PHOENIX — Chaminade University, Appalachian State, Leicester City and Milan High, you can turn the light off. Company is not coming.
For two improbable innings Saturday night in the World Baseball Classic, a baseball team from Great Britain, a kingdom with one baseball facility and using a civil engineer as its first pitcher out of the bullpen, made a bid to join the most improbable upset winners in team sports by taking a lead against Team USA and its $2 billion worth of players. It was half past two in the morning on the other side of the pond, past closing time at the London pubs, when Great Britain led the most expensive team ever assembled, 1–0.
“It’s not like football,” said Team USA manager Mark DeRosa. “Bigger, faster, stronger doesn’t necessarily win.”
