Venezuela eliminates defending WBC champion Japan with stunning bullpen effort

There will be a new champion in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. 

Defending champion Japan was eliminated in the quarterfinal on Saturday night, losing 8-5 to Venezuela, setting the stage for what should be a tremendous semifinal round.

Venezuela will advance to play Italy as part of its Cinderella run, while the United States will play the Dominican Republic. 

Venezuela had to rally from a 5-2 deficit on Saturday, with Wilyer Abreu's towering three-run home run in the sixth inning being the go-ahead and game-winning hit.

While that swing will get the attention for being the game-changing hit, the real star of Saturday's win was Venezuela's bullpen.

Venezuela's bullpen gave it a chance with dominant effort

Starting pitcher Ranger Suarez did not have his A-plus stuff on Saturday, allowing five runs in 2.2 innings, leaving the game with a 5-2 deficit. Given the way Japan was swinging the bat early, and given the depth of its lineup, it seemed like the game was going to slip away from Venezuela and create a clear path for Japan to get back into the semifinal.

Instead, six different Venezuelan relief pitchers combined to throw 7.1 innings of shutout ball, allowing just four hits, only five total base-runners and striking out eight batters.

Enmanuel De Jesus did most of the heavy lifting, going 2.1 innings with three strikeouts to get credit for the win.

Angel Zerpa and Daniel Palencia also threw dominant innings, striking out two respectively. Palencia got the save by striking out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth before getting Shohei Ohtani to pop out to end the game. 

This will be the second time Venezuela has reached the semifinal of the WBC, previously reaching this point in the 2009 tournament. That is, to this point, its highest finish in the event. It reached the quarterfinals in the 2023 tournament.

While it figures to be a favorite against Italy in the semifinal, especially given the Major League Baseball talent it has in its lineup, Italy is not going to be pushover and has consistently proven itself in this tournament. While Italy won its first four games on the strength of home runs, it showed on Saturday that it can also manufacture runs in its win against Puerto Rico.

This is probably not the semifinal matchup anybody expected coming into the tournament, but both teams have set the stage for what should be a fascinating game.