MIAMI — When the USA roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic was revealed, the star power could just about knock you over. Aaron Judge! Cal Raleigh! Bobby Witt Jr., Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber! Oh, and the starting pitchers are Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Logan Webb! Mason Miller will be closing things down!
In the biggest game of the tournament on Sunday night, against a Dominican Republic team with the MVP-level talent to match the United States, it was the under-the-radar players who came through for Team USA in a riveting 2-1 win. The result sends the Americans to the WBC title game and sends the D.R. packing.
Sure, Skenes was good. The Pirates ace threw 4 ⅓ strong innings in arguably the biggest start of his life, but he wasn’t overwhelmingly dominant or anything. Judge threw out a key baserunner at third base, Harper doubled and Witt Jr. absolutely sparkled on defense (again). But the heroes in this one were some of the names that might be less recognized by casual baseball fans.
Gunnar Henderson is an All-Star and a potential future MVP with the Orioles. He’s also only a part-time starter for manager Mark DeRosa on Team USA. He played third base for the first time in the tournament Sunday night. He played it well. He also hit a game-tying home run against Luis Severino.
Baseball fans also know plenty about Roman Anthony. He was the top prospect in baseball last summer when the Red Sox promoted him to the bigs. Still, he only has 71 games of MLB experience, and he’s playing on a roster with perennial All-Stars. He only made the Team USA roster after Corbin Carroll got hurt a few weeks before the tournament began. Anthony came through with the go-ahead home run in the same inning as Henderson’s blast.
That was Anthony’s second home run of the WBC. He also clubbed a three-run shot against Mexico in a game USA would win 5-3.
David Bednar is a two-time All-Star and heads into the 2026 season as the Yankees closer. He’s far from anonymous. He’s also not a superstar and when we were going crazy about how loaded this USA roster was, he wouldn’t be mentioned in the first 15-20 names. And yet, after getting himself into trouble in the seventh inning, he struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte to strand runners at second and third base and preserve a 2-1 lead.
The most-pivotal moment in the game, however, came two innings prior. And it was Tyler Rogers. He’s at least obscure enough that the game broadcast listed the stats of Trevor Rogers from the Orioles by mistake. Now on the Blue Jays, Tyler Rogers has made 420 appearances. You’ve probably seen him and his sidearm delivery. But did you ever think he’d be tasked with getting the biggest outs for Team USA in the 2026 WBC?
Rogers entered the game with runners on first and second and only out. He was facing Juan Soto with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looming on deck.
Gulp.
Rogers induced a double play ball off the capable bat of Soto — his Mets teammate from last season. Game MVPs aren’t an official thing in baseball, but could I name Rogers the most valuable USA player in this game, even though he only faced one batter? It sounds ridiculous, but that was the biggest point of the game, in my opinion. It looked like the Dominican Republic was about to have a big inning. Rogers calmly took care of business.
This matchup was like a playoff game. The atmosphere was off the charts. Fans were standing up for pitches in the seventh inning. Remarkably, there was a ton of traffic but the only three runs scored came via solo homers. The two teams combined for 14 runners left on base. The defense from both teams was exceptional. Witt was particularly great for Team USA — note the unassisted double play above — but it was a team effort. Pitchers for both teams made huge pitches to escape jams. Emotion was displayed from start to finish by both sides.
The World Baseball Classic is an overwhelming success, and this was the best game of the 2026 tournament. And the players who most came through for the winning team weren’t the top dogs. It’s beautiful. It’s baseball. I love it.
One of my many favorite things about the game is how — unlike basketball and football — you don’t have a choice as to which player gets the game put in his hands. It’s the quarterback in football. In basketball, generally, the best offensive player takes the last shot. In baseball, we’re slotted with an exact batting order, and if the nine-hole hitter is up in the biggest moment, so be it. Sometimes it’s an unheralded reliever.
On a roster with Judge, Harper, Witt and Skenes, the hero of the day was Tyler Rogers — with big assists from Henderson, Anthony and Bednar. As the late, great Mel Allen would say, “How about that?!”
