4 takeaways from Italy’s World Baseball Classic victory over Mexico

Daikin Park (Houston) — Buongiorno, buon pomeriggio, buonanotte. A night after defeating the American team to achieve the greatest victory in the history of Italian baseball, Italy experienced no disappointment on Wednesday (4-0) as it completed a remarkable unbeaten run to win Pool B and – finally, officially – helped the United States (3-1) qualify for the quarterfinals by beating and eliminating Mexico. Here’s what I remember from Italy’s 9-1 victory over Mexico. 1. Undefeated Italy is the story of this tournament Italy made some noise at the last World Baseball Classic, scoring wins over Cuba and the Netherlands in pool play to advance to the quarterfinals for the second time in its history. The Italians advanced that year even though they didn’t hit a home run until the quarterfinals. This time, an entirely different, more superior, more complete and more powerful version of Italian baseball has taken the WBC by storm, following victories over Brazil and Great Britain by upsetting the best American team of all time on Tuesday and annihilating a Mexican team that almost reached the WBC final three years ago on Wednesday. A young, exuberant and confident Team Italy roster launched 12 home runs in pool play, the second most of any team in the tournament, behind only a Dominican Republic squad chock-full of MLB superstars, and seemed undaunted by some of the sport’s best weapons. The rotation, featuring MLB veterans Aaron Nola and Michael Lorenzen at the top, has combined to total a 1.00 ERA through four games. The end result: a spectacular juggernaut that outscored its opponents in pool play by 21 points and deservedly captured a pool that most thought invincible. 2. Italy saves pancetta from the United States. All Team USA had to do on Tuesday was beat Italy to secure their spot in the WBC quarterfinals. Instead, the Italian offense jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and held on late, putting the American dream team in a precarious position. If Italy had not beaten Mexico, or if Mexico had won by scoring four points or less, the United States would have been eliminated. It would have been an embarrassing disaster. Instead, thanks to Italy’s work on Wednesday, the United States’ shocking pool defeat may now be just a footnote in their WBC 2026 journey. 3. Pasquantino breaks out to make WBC Tour history Vinnie Pasquantino, who competed in the 2023 WBC and spent much of last year helping recruit players for the 2026 team, is the captain, the heart and the soul of the Italian team. Even when he wasn’t producing offensively — he was hitless through the first three games of the tournament — his teammates raved about his defense, his leadership and his ability to put players around him at ease. “That’s what I see as captain,” 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 counting on me primarily for offense, which I haven’t been able to provide, but showing them, like, ‘Look, guys, things aren’t going well for me right now, that doesn’t mean it can’t go well for the team.’ That’s what this game is about.” Wednesday, however, brought more than just good vibes. After an 0-for-12 start to the tournament, Pasquantino started the scoring Wednesday with a solo shot against Javier Assad in 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 for an Italian team that had gotten to this point without its best hitter producing. And he still wasn’t finished. In the eighth, Pasquantino launched his third home run of the game, becoming the first player in WBC history to accomplish this feat. 4. Nola helps his Phillies hitters Aaron Nola’s Phillies teammates, American sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, may need to send him a gift basket. Beyond the young talent on the roster, what set this Italian team apart from previous iterations – and what made it such an interesting sleeper in the tournament – was the presence of the best arm it ever brought to the WBC. On Wednesday, Nola lived up to his status as the team’s ace, following Michael Lorenzen’s 4.2 innings of scoreless 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 United States and Canada playing Friday at 7 p.m. CT and Italy taking on Puerto Rico on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.