Team Italy Bids Arrivederci to WBC

Tonight, the Cinderella story ended. Team Italy was bounced in the World Baseball Classic semifinal by Team Venezuela falling 4-2.

Before tonight's loss, Italy had bested Brazil, Great Britain, the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico in this year's tournament.

Now, it must be said that a majority of Team Italy are American born players of Italian heritage. Not only that, but if you include manager Francisco Cervelli there were more Venezuelans on Team Italy than Italians. There were three Italian born players on the team including pitcher Sam Aldegheri who became the first Italian born MLB player when he debuted with the Los Angeles Angels in 2024.

Nevertheless, it would have been something completely different had Team Italy won the tournament. Perhaps it would have helped stimulate more interest in the game over there. 

Mind you, baseball isn't entirely a foreign concept in Italy. I remember when former MLB player Lenny Randle became a star in Italy in the early 1980's with Nettuno. On a personal note, my parents saw Randle and his Nettuno team play in France during the summer of 1983. Sadly, Randle passed away in December 2024.

As for Venezuela, they deserve to be there. Indeed, they knocked off Team Japan which has won three WBC Titles including the most recent tournament in 2023.

Tomorrow night, Venezuela faces Team USA in the WBC Final. Although this is Venezuela's first appearance in the WBC Final, I find it all a bit depressing as it is just a reminder of the American military invasion of Venezuela in which they ousted one dictator to replace him with another.

It's hard to root for Team USA when manager Mark DeRosa boasts about having their ticket punched to the semi-final before they earned that spot or having a member of Seal Team 6 speak to the team about killing Osama bin Laden as well as Bryce Harper minimizing the importance of the WBC compared to the Olympics.

Let me put it this way. A World Baseball Classic title would mean a lot more to the people of Venezuela than it would to the people of this country.

As for Team Italy, even when represented by Americans and Venezuelans, they played with a joie de vivre. Or should I say with a gioia di vivere. What with the Armani jackets, the kisses on the cheek, the espresso, the wine with music by Andrea Bocelli. 

They played for the love of the game. Now that's amore.