4 Takeaways From Italy’s World Baseball Classic Win Over Mexico

Daikin Park (Houston) — Buongiorno, buon pomeriggio, buonanotte. One night after upsetting Team USA for the biggest victory in Italy baseball history, there was no letdown Wednesday for Italy (4-0) as it finished off a remarkable undefeated run to win Pool B and — finally, officially — help punch USA’s (3-1) ticket to the quarterfinals by beating and eliminating Mexico. Here are my takeaway’s from Italy’s 9-1 win over Mexico. 1. Undefeated Italy is the story of this tournament Italy made noise in the last World Baseball Classic, securing wins against Cuba and the Netherlands in pool play to get to the quarterfinals for the second time in the nation’s history. The Italians advanced that year despite not hitting a single home run until the quarterfinals. This time, an entirely different, more superior, more complete, more overpowering version of Italian baseball has taken the WBC by storm, following wins against Brazil and Great Britain by upsetting USA’s best roster ever on Tuesday and annihilating a Mexico team that nearly made it to the WBC finals three years ago on Wednesday. A youthful, exuberant, confident Team Italy lineup launched 12 home runs during pool play, the second-most of any team in the tournament, trailing only a Dominican Republic roster teeming with MLB superstars, and looked unintimidated by some of the sport’s best arms. The rotation, featuring MLB veterans Aaron Nola and Michael Lorenzen at the top, combined to tally a 1.00 ERA over four games. The end result: a spectacular juggernaut that outscored its pool-play opponents by 21 runs and deservedly captured a pool that most thought unconquerable. 2. Italy saves USA’s pancetta All Team USA had to do on Tuesday was beat Italy to secure its spot in the WBC quarterfinals. Instead, the Italy offense teed off to take an early 8-0 lead and held on late, putting USA’s dream team in a precarious position. If Italy didn’t beat Mexico, or if Mexico won while scoring four runs or fewer, the U.S. would have been eliminated. It would have been an embarrassing catastrophe. Instead, thanks to Italy’s work on Wednesday, USA’s shocking pool-play defeat might now just be a footnote in its 2026 WBC journey. 3. Pasquantino breaks out to make WBC homer history Vinnie Pasquantino, who participated in the 2023 WBC and has spent much of the last year helping recruit players to the 2026 squad, is the captain, heart and soul of Team Italy. Even when he wasn’t producing offensively — he was hitless through the first three games of the tournament — teammates gushed about his defense, his leadership and his ability to make players around him feel comfortable. “That’s what I see the captaincy being,” Pasquantino told me before Wednesday’s game. “It’s not about performance, in my opinion, it’s about what you can bring to the team. And I know these guys are looking to me for mostly offense, which I haven’t been able to provide, but showing them, like, ‘Look, guys, it’s not going well for me right now, that doesn’t mean it can’t go well for the team.’ That’s what this game’s all about.” On Wednesday, though, he brought more than good vibes. After an 0-for-12 start to the tournament, Pasquantino started the scoring Wednesday with a solo shot off Javier Assad on his first at-bat of the game. Two at-bats later, the Royals slugger added his second home run of the night, a positive sign going forward for an Italy team that had gotten to this point without its best hitter producing. And he still wasn’t done. In the eighth, Pasquantino launched his third home run of the game, becoming the first player in WBC history to accomplish the feat. 4. Nola helps out his Phillies sluggers Aaron Nola’s Phillies teammates, USA sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, might need to send him a gift basket. Beyond the young talent throughout the lineup, what separated this Italy team from past iterations — and what made it such an interesting sleeper in the tournament — was the presence of the best arm it had ever taken into the WBC. On Wednesday, Nola lived up to the billing as the team’s ace, following Michael Lorenzen’s 4.2 scoreless innings of work against Team USA by delivering five scoreless frames against Mexico. 4 ½. What’s next? The stage is now set for the quarterfinals in Houston, with the USA and Canada playing Friday at 7 p.m. CT and Italy facing Puerto Rico on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.