MIAMI – Having managed Canada in every World Baseball Classic, former Toronto Blue Jays catcher Ernie Whitt knows what it means for his club to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time.
“We’re extremely proud that we’re moving forward. It took us a long time to do it,” said Whitt. Canada had never advanced out of pool play in the five previous WBC’s, and tonight, they’ll face the United States at Daikin Park in Houston at 8 p.m. EDT. “We now have some real good positional players. We have some real good arms out there that are performing for us to move forward. I’m excited about that.”
At the plate, Owen Caissie and Abraham Toro lead Canada with five RBIs each, while Cal Quantrill and retired Major Leaguer James Paxton, known as “The Big Maple” during his playing days, both have 0.00 ERAs and have combined for 13 strikeouts.
Paxton, perhaps, has been the biggest find for Canada. The 11-year MLB vet last pitched in 2024, throwing 100 1/3 innings for the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring. He got off the couch to represent Canada in the WBC and appears to have not lost any form, with his fastball still touching 97 mph.
“He wanted to come and come out of retirement, get off the couch, and come and throw for Team Canada because he’s never done that before. He’s experienced league championships and played at the highest level in Major League Baseball, but he never represented the country. I think that was the biggest thing for him,” Whitt said.
Now, Paxton, Whitt, et al. will face the United States in the third major showdown between Canadian and U.S. sports teams in a month, after the two countries squared off for gold in men’s and women’s ice hockey in the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. The U.S. took both the gold medals in hockey, a sport that began in Canada, and now Canada has a chance to eliminate the United States in baseball, America’s pastime.
The matchup was set up by the U.S.’s 8-6 loss to Italy in the Americans’ final game of pool play, a game where U.S. manager DeRosa sat five starters, including the big bats of Alex Bregman, Cal Raleigh, and Bryce Harper, the absence of whom likely made at least something of a difference in the game.
Then, comments from DeRosa made in an appearance on MLB Network, where DeRosa works when he isn’t managing Team USA, appeared to reveal that DeRosa was unaware of where his team stood going into the Italy game.
“Ton of respect for Italy. It’s weird,” DeRosa said. “We want to win this game even though our ticket is punched to the quarterfinals because Mexico plays Italy actually tomorrow. So the way the schedule lines up, this is an important game.”
They, of course, hadn’t clinched and needed Italy to beat Mexico or a certain number of runs to be scored had Mexico beaten Italy to advance. They got it, of course, but DeRosa continued to step on rakes in front of the media, proclaiming that it was a false narrative that his team didn’t take the game against Italy seriously.
If DeRosa and his club win tonight behind San Francisco Giants starter Logan Webb, taking the third major matchup for the U.S. against Canada in the last month, perhaps all will be forgotten. If they lose to Canada, though, DeRosa’s comments will be what the U.S. remembers about this World Baseball Classic, and with good reason. A win against Italy would have gotten the U.S. a matchup with Puerto Rico, the second-place finisher in San Juan’s Pool A, rather than Canada, which won the pool.
Canada will start Michael Soroka, who allowed one run on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts in his only start for Canada in pool play in Puerto Rico.