[Editor\u2019s note: Welcome to Athlon Sports\u2019 poll of the day, where we ask readers to weigh in on the biggest topic of the day. Thanks for voting, and be sure to sound off in the comment section.]<\/p>\n
After breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth inning Tuesday night, Team Venezuela held on for a 3-2 victory over the United States that clinched the 2026 World Baseball Classic. It was the first WBC championship for Venezuela, keeping the USA from winning its second WBC title.<\/p>\n
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The exhilaration seen on the faces of the Venezuela players as they celebrated was obvious\u2026 but did Venezuela win this tournament as much as the USA lost it?<\/p>\n
The Unites States team was a heavy favorite going into this game. They got a big home run from Bryce Harper<\/a> in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie Venezuela, but then Aaron Judge<\/a> struck out looking. Cincinnati Reds<\/a> infielder Eugenio Suarez doubled in the game-winning run for Venezuela in the top of the ninth.<\/p>\n Suarez is one of dozens of MLB<\/a> stars that were not playing for the United States, but the USA was still favored to win this game. So\u2026 <\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Thanks for voting. Be sure to make your voice heard and sound off in the comments section.<\/p>\n This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Mar 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Editor\u2019s note: Welcome to Athlon Sports\u2019 poll of the day, where we ask readers to weigh in on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":664807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[227184,3090,24336,5048,24893,1266,32163,62,278212,67,132,68,32322,281288],"class_list":["post-664806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","tag-aaron-judge","tag-bryce-harper","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-eugenio-suarez","tag-mlb","tag-ninth-inning","tag-sports","tag-team-venezuela","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-venezuela","tag-venezuela-players"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116251102167268186","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}