2026 World Baseball Classic: Italy Will Try to Forza Its Way Past Venezuela Into Final Game

MIAMI – Sitting on the dais in the press conference room at Houston’s Daikin Park after his team’s undefeated run through the World Baseball Classic continued with an 8-6 win against Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals, Italy manager Francisco Cervelli, clad in a fashionable Italian suit, had few words to describe his team’s success.

“Imagine doing this for the first time and arrive to the semifinal,” Cervelli, born in Venezuela of Italian heritage, said. “It’s amazing. This is great. This is one of the best chapters of my life. It’s incredible. This group is phenomenal.”

This group, the one assembled by former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti with some help from captain and recruiter-in-chief Vinnie Pasquantino, has been guided by Cervelli to a 5-0 record and is now just a win against Venezuela in Monday night’s semifinal away from an improbable trip to the final.

When it started, Italy was a group of players in a clubhouse wearing the same jersey, but that changed during pool play.

“This tournament, they only give you three days together. I didn’t know — I knew a couple guys. And to put the group and build chemistry, we did so many things inside the clubhouse to get to know personalities,” Cervelli said follow the win against Puerto Rico. “And then Brazil was a little uncomfortable, and the guys didn’t know exactly what was the role. And then Great Britain, and then everything started. They were bonding together.

“And we beat the United States, and now it’s a different team. It’s a different team. They played — they know who is behind, who’s in front. They know the pitchers now. They’re going to miss this tournament after they go back to their teams because it’s been really fun.”

It has been fun. Fans and new viewers across Italy watched the win against Puerto Rico, and now will get to see a team representing Italy, the last undefeated team in the tournament, take on Venezuela, which eliminated defending champion Japan on Saturday night with an 8-5 win at loanDepot Park in Miami, tonight at 8 p.m. EDT. A win would get Italy another crack at the United States with the title on the line.

Michael Lorenzen of the Colorado Rockies was originally scheduled to start for Italy. He allowed just four hits in 4 2/3 innings in his first start during pool play, Italy’s 8-6 win against the United States and now will face a lineup nearly as intimidating, with a ton of speed and power, but Cervelli elected to start veteran righty Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies instead on Monday morning. Keider Montero, who has pitched three scoreless innings in relief for Venezuela in the tournament so far, will get the start for Omar Lopez and Venezuela as he likely again looks to use the bullpen to stifle the Italy batters, similar to the approach he took against Japan.

Believe it or not, Italy has outscored Venezuela, one of the Caribbean’s baseball powers, by a count of 40-34 in the tournament so far. They have a higher team batting average, more homers, and more extra-base hits, too.

Riding this improbable wave of espresso and Italian pride, the players are ready for the challenge. They’ve beaten the U.S. once already in a game that was defined by inexplicable lineup decisions by Team USA manager Mark DeRosa and then knocked off the defending champions. So why not?

“The lack of fear from some of these, like, 21- to 24-year-olds is insane. We were just talking about it. They’re learning so much so quickly and it’s amazing,” Pasquantino said. “That’s the key to this game — you can’t play with fear. But when you’re that young, and you’re in these moments and the crowd is against you… the fact that we’re able to still go out there and play our game, that’s a credit to a lot of the guys on the team who have just continued to stay consistent.”

Should Italy advance to the championship game, perhaps it wouldn’t put baseball on the same plane as soccer in the pantheon of Italian sports, but it certainly would bolster interest in a sport for which Italy has had a professional league since 1948.

Pasquantino and the boys in the clubhouse certainly believe they can do it. They’re playing for themselves, for their heritage,  and for pride.

“My family came over for a better life to America, and I honestly don’t have any issue representing those members of my family. And it’s just super cool to be given this opportunity from these guys because it’s just cool,” Pasquantino said. “It’s cool to be able to learn about your history and being able to perform for people in a country that baseball doesn’t exist at this level, and we’re trying to get it to exist at a level somewhat like this.”

Their 5-0 record to this point has made believers out of a lot of skeptics, and as Bruce Springsteen, America’s bard, himself an Italian-American from New Jersey, once wrote, “At the end of every hard day, people find a reason to believe.”

Cervelli, Pasquantino, Lorenzen, and Italy face their hardest night yet tonight at loanDepot Park, and they’ve found a reason to believe.

Photo: Italy pitcher Michael Lorenzen (24) throws to the United States in the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)