Mark DeRosa derides 'false narratives' about misunderstanding WBC rules, then gets Team USA's record wrong
· Yahoo Sports
Team USA has advanced to the knockout rounds of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and the two narratives they’ll be carrying with them are a) how close they came to a mortifying elimination in pool play and b) their manager quite publicly flubbing the rules of the tournament.
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It was Tuesday when Team USA manager Mark DeRosa made his surprisingly fateful appearance MLB Network’s “Hot Stove.” At the time, his team was preparing for a game against underdog Italy, but he insisted they were taking it seriously despite having already advanced:
“Ton of respect for Italy. It’s weird. We want to win this game even though our ticket is punched to the quarterfinals because Mexico plays Italy actually tomorrow. So they way the schedule lines up, this is an important game.”
As many pointed out, that statement was factually incorrect. Team USA had not clinched the quarterfinals and would in fact face elimination after losing 8-6 to Italy later that day. DeRosa admitted after the game that he “misspoke” and “completely misread the calculations,” while MLB quietly scrubbed all footage of the error from its official channels.
The heavy tournament favorite getting bounced in pool play after that kind of error would have been a tough look, but the Americans earned a reprieve when Italy defeated Mexico on Wednesday to clinch Pool C.
A day later, DeRosa spoke to reporters and again addressed his flub, describing it as him being overconfident:
“It’s just an overly confident statement on ‘Hot Stove.’ Period. The end. It’s my fault. Felt good about where we were after Mexico.”
He then provided more detail on his team’s mindset going into the Italy game, complaining about false narratives that his team wasn’t taking the game seriously. Unfortunately, he then recalled that both teams entered the game 2-0.
Team USA was 3-0 entering the Italy game, with wins over Brazil, Great Britain and Mexico.
The quote:
Mark DeRosa appears to be trying his best while managing Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. (Photo by Kevin M. Cox/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images)Kevin M. Cox via Getty Images“They played a hell of a game. They smacked us in the mouth early. They got up big. We went into that game prepared to win it. I think there’s a couple false narratives out there but, no, I was well aware that we had to win that game based on all the scenarios that could take place. They went in 2-0. We went in 2-0. We knew they were playing Mexico the next day. We knew there was tiebreaker rules involved.”
There is admittedly an element of “gotcha” here. People can make those kind of errors quite often while speaking extemporaneously and few would care about this under normal circumstances. However, it also clearly happened at a time when DeRosa shouldn’t be giving his critics more to work with.
DeRosa went on to address questions about his lineups and pitching decisions. In that case, he noted many decisions just aren’t up to him when he’s managing a team full of MLB players with their own throw schedules and needed playing time:
“I can understand the questions about lineups and pitching situations we were up against. A lot of guardrails with regards to teams. The deployment of certain relievers, how many pitches they can use, whether they can go back out, whether they can clean up innings. You’re just trying to piece things together in real time.”
Team USA will resume playing on Friday in the quarterfinals against Canada (8 p.m. ET, Fox).