Team USA manager Mark DeRosa pretty clearly didn’t know the rules of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
During an appearance on MLB Network Tuesday, hours before his team took on Italy, DeRosa mistakenly claimed the Americans had clinched a spot in the quarterfinals.
Here’s the funny part: they hadn’t.
Team USA opened the tournament 3-0 and led Pool B when he gave the interview, but there was a distinct possibility of the U.S. ending the opening round in a three-way tie for first place in its group. If that happened, the number of runs allowed would be the difference between advancing and not.
Below is video of DeRosa discussing how he is going to change up his lineup to get some guys playing time. He mentions that the U.S. really wants to beat Italy despite already having their “ticket punched.”
OH MY GOD MARK DEROSA ACTUALLY THOUGHT TEAM USA ALREADY CLINCHED A SPOT IN THE QUARTERFINALS LMAOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/7iGvS9xsAv
— AT (@YankeeWRLD) March 11, 2026
Yeah, that’s a really bad look from DeRosa, who is in his second World Baseball Classic as Team USA’s manager.
DeRosa’s lineup against Italy saw Bryce Harper, Alex Bregman, Cal Raleigh and Brice Turang sitting out. Those are three of his better hitters.
Given that Italy wound up beating the Americans 8-6 on Tuesday night, DeRosa looked pretty bad as a result.
World Baseball Classic Pool B tiebreakers
The U.S. finished pool play 3-1 after an upset loss to Italy, which is now 3-0 in the tournament. The Americans have with wins over Brazil, Great Britain, and Mexico. Meanwhile 2-1 Mexico and 3-0 Italy face off on Wednesday.
As you can see, there is a real chance for three teams to be tied atop the group at 3-1. If Italy beats Mexico, the United States will advance, as it will be 3-1 and Mexico will be 2-2. But if Mexico beats Italy, things get interesting.
If that were to happen, there are five levels of tiebreaker.
The first is record between the teams. In this case, the U.S. would have lost to Italy, while Italy would have lost to Mexico, which would have lost to the U.S. So that wouldn’t solve it.
The second tiebreaker would be runs allowed per defensive outs against the teams tied with. Basically, runs allowed in the tournament thus far. The U.S. allowed three runs to Mexico and eight to Italy, so that’s 11 in 18 innings. Italy allowed six to the U.S. in nine innings, while Mexico allowed five in nine innings. The only way for the U.S. to advance would be for Mexico to beat Italy, while scoring five or more runs in nine innings. The odds for that may not be great.
The next level would be earned runs allowed per defensive outs. Again, it’s another tiebreaker that isn’t great for the U.S., while it allowed nine earned runs to the teams combined.
Fourth would be the highest batting average in games between the tied teams.
Finally, the three teams would draw lots for a spot in the knockout round.
The fact that DeRosa believed his team had clinched a spot by going 3-0 to open the tournament is an egregious error for a manager with a ton of experience in this tournament.
More MLB on Sports Illustrated
- Here's What Team USA Needs in Italy vs. Mexico Game to Reach WBC Quarterfinals
- Team USA’s Baseball Dream Team Is on the Brink of a Nightmarish Exit
- Italy 8, USA 6: How U.S. Lost and Could Be Eliminated From World Baseball Classic
- Nolan McLean Is Ready to Shine for Team USA, and the Mets
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Team USA Manager Mark DeRosa Mistakenly Thought They Had Clinched Quarterfinal Spot.
