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The US will play Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday, a meeting that comes after recent tensions between the two countries.
In January, Donald Trump ordered a military operation that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Since then, the US has launched a war against Iran, during which the American players have paid tribute to their country’s military. Players have saluted each other after victories and the team invited Robert J O’Neill, a former Navy Seal who claims he killed Osama bin Laden, to give a locker room speech. Two of the team’s pitchers, Paul Skenes and Griffin Jax, played at the Air Force Academy and have spoken of the importance of honoring the military.
The choice of O’Neill to motivate the team received pushback as he called men who voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election as “my concubines” and been criticized by some for talking about secret military operations in public.
“You never want it to get lost why you’re doing this, whatever that why is,” USA manager Mark DeRosa said. “And a lot of people – like Paul Skenes said to me when he signed up for this, ‘I want to do this for every serviceman and woman who protects our freedom,’ and that’s why we wear USA across our chest.”
After Sunday’s semi-final win over the Dominican Republic, Skenes said the military helped shape his philosophy. “You know, this is what we do in America,” he said. “We fight and we win. And that’s our responsibility.”
The Americans’ approach has been contrasted with the light-hearted spirit of teams such as Italy and the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The Italians took shots of espresso and kissed each other on the cheeks after home runs, while the Dominicans became known for pumping each other up, their passionate fans and their exuberant celebrations. Meanwhile, USA catcher Cal Raleigh refused to give a fist bump to Mexico’s Randy Arozarena during a game. The two are teammates for the Seattle Mariners and Arozarena said Raleigh can “go fuck himself” after the incident.
US outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong denied his team are boring, and said they were enjoying the tournament in their own way.
“You guys would all think it’s silly if we shuffled like [Juan] Soto or did [Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s] little wiggle,” American row-Armstrong said after Sunday’s win over the Dominican Republic. “That’s them and if I had enough swag to do that I would probably do that, too. ... We have fun in our own way, but we definitely have fun out there.”
Venezuela dance as a team before each game, and will do so again on Tuesday. “That’s us. That’s our country,” manager Omar López said after they beat Italy in Monday’s semi-final. “That’s winter ball. That’s how we enjoy our baseball.”
Venezuela faced the US in the quarter-finals of the 2023 tournament, a game the Americans won 9-7 before going on to lose to Japan in the final. The US are chasing their second title and Venezuela are hoping to win the tournament for the first time.
