The Dominican Republic saw their dreams shattered in the World Baseball Classic after a tough loss to Team USA in the tournament semifinals. However, Juan Soto was not willing to conceed they were not the better team.
Speaking to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Juan Soto said “we showed the world who’s the best team in baseball.” Now, by losing the game 1-2 to Team USA, some might say Soto is a sore loser. And that might be the case, but the fact is he also may have a point.
The Dominican Republic was a juggernaut throughout the tournament, and USA didn’t look as dominant. Sunday’s game was a thriller with plenty of great highlights, that ultimately ended with the stars and stripes getting the win in controversial fashion.
There’s reason for Dominican Republic to be sour
The game ended when the umpire blew a call that might go down as one of the worst in the World Baseball Classic history. The Dominican Republic had the tying run at third, and closer Mason Miller was in quite the predicament. After seven pitches against Geraldo Perdomo, Miller opted for a slider that went far below the bottom of the strike zone. In fact, Perdomo was already about to walk to first. Then, Cory Blaser, the home umpire said it was a strike and it was game over.
Should he have a right call, the DR would’ve had the tying run at third, the winning run at first, and Fernando Tatis about to step up to the plate. It was a dream scenario for the Dominicans until the blown call happened.
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It was not the first mistake against the Dominican Republic
Speaking to ESPN, Perdomo unleashed his wrath against the officials. It was not the first time Blaser rang up a batter on a below-the-zone slider. He did exactly the same in the eighth inning to Juan Soto. In fact, it was so egregious the replay showed the ball going below Soto’s knees.
Now, the United States will have to face the winner of Venezuela vs Italy. Venezuela has a loaded roster with Ronald Acuña Jr. as their main man. However, Italy already beat Team USA in the pool phase. Either way, it’s going to be a tough matchup.
