The first game of the quarterfinals that was played was USA vs Dominican Republic. This game took place March 15, 2026. The Second game that was played was Venezuela vs Italy. This game took place prior to the first game on March 16, 2026.
USA vs Dominican Republic
USA vs Dominican Republic was seen as the most exciting game as it was arguably the two most stacked teams going against each other to determine a championship game appearance. The USA would start Pittsburgh Pirates ace pitcher, Paul Skenes. The DR would start Oakland Athletics’ pitcher, Luis Severino.
Severino would start off strong, striking out Bobby Witt Jr and Bryce Harper in the top of the first. Aaron Judge would then hit a single along with Kyle Schwarber being HBP. Gunnar Henderson would end up grounding out to second, ending the inning. Skenes would bring some solid pitching in the bottom of the first, making Fernando Tatis Jr fly out, Ketel Marte pop out, and Juan Soto ground out. The top of the second would start off with Will Smith hitting a single. Roman Anthony would strike out, following Bryce Turang hitting into a groundout double play, ending the inning. Skenes would make Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ground out, along with a Manny Machado strike out. Junior Caminero would then take advantage of a high slurve and hit a home run 401 feet to left center. Julio Rodriguez would ground out to second, and the DR would have a 1-0 lead going into the 3rd inning.
Pete Crow-Armstrong would start off the top of the third inning with a strike out. The batting order then flipped and Witt Jr. came up to bat, hitting a single to left. Harper would then hit a double, moving Witt Jr. up to third. USA would miss this opportunity, with Judge and Schwarber both striking out, ending the inning. Skenes would start the bottom of the third strong, striking out Austin Wells. Skenes would then miss on a curve, hitting Geraldo Perdomo. Tatis Jr. would then ground out to third with Perdomo advancing to second. Marte would then hit a single to right, Perdomo being thrown out at third, ending the inning.
USA would start off very strong in the top of the forth, with Henderson hitting a 400 foot home run to right center. Smith would then lineout to second. This would end Severino’s pitching, as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ relief pitcher, Gregory Soto, would come up to the mound to face a lefty-lefty matchup vs Anthony. Anthony would then hit a 421 foot moonshot to center, giving the USA the lead. This would be the only scoring of the game, therefore, USA would advance to the championship to face either Venezuela or Italy.
Venezuela vs. Italy
Venezuela vs Italy was a game many people wouldn’t have expected since Venezuela upset Japan, and Italy wasn’t seen as a big threat in the tournament. Team Venezuela would start pitcher, Keider Montero, while team Italy started pitcher, Aaron Nola.
There wouldn’t be any scoring until the bottom of the second inning, with Montero walking in a run with the bases loaded and Italy scoring first. Italy’ s Dante Nori would hit a double play but with Jac Caglianone scoring from third. Venezuela’s Eugenio Suarez would hit a 386 foot home run to left center, putting Venezuela on the board and making the score 1-2.
There wouldn’t be any more scoring until the top of the seventh inning, with Ronald Acuna Jr. hitting an infield single and Andres Gimenez scoring. Maikel Garcia would hit a single to left, bringing Jackson Chourio in to score. Luis Arraez would then hit Venezuela’s third straight RBI single, bringing in Acuna Jr. This would end the inning and eventually be the end of scoring the whole game. Venezuela beats Italy 4-2 and advances to the championship to face the USA.
With team USA beating the very talented Dominican Republic, and Venezuela upsetting the very talented Japan and winning against Italy who previously won against the USA in the tournament, this was set to be a very good championship game.
