WBC Pool Play Ends: Japan Dominates, USA Survives, DR Looks Dangerous

World Baseball Classic pool play is officially in the books — and the drama delivered. Team USA barely survived after a shocking loss to Italy, while Samurai Japan continued their dominant run and the Dominican Republic proved why they’re one of the tournament favorites. In this episode, I break down what went wrong for Team USA, why Italy deserves way more credit than they’re getting, and which teams have been the most impressive so far in the WBC. We also take a look at some of the great stories from pool play — including Canada advancing to the knockout stage for the first time ever and the incredible atmosphere created by fans around the world. Plus, I re-rank the top teams left in the tournament and preview the upcoming quarterfinal matchups. Quarterfinal matchups: Korea vs Dominican Republic USA vs Canada Puerto Rico vs Italy Venezuela vs Japan The knockout stage is set — and the road to the World Baseball Classic championship is about to get even better. 0:00 Intro 1:29 Team USA disappointment 10:56 Team Italy dominates 13:50 Canada Advances 18:48 Latin America making WBC fun 25:55 Re-Ranking WBC team 31:00 QF matchups Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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WBC Pool Play Ends: Japan Dominates, USA Survives, DR Looks Dangerous is an episode from Flippin' Bats with Ben Verlander by FOX Sports.

This episode is 36:07 long.

This episode was published on Mar 12, 2026.

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