In a battle of undefeated squads, Mexico squares off against Team USA in a World Baseball Classic group-stage match in Houston on Monday night with a quarterfinal berth on the line.
Mexico trampled Brazil 16-0, in a 6-inning run-rule-shortened outing on Sunday to move to 2-0, good enough to sit atop Pool B, thanks to a run differential of 24. The U.S. nine is close behind, also 2-0, with a run differential of 18.
The Mexican bats produced four home runs to make quick work of the South Americans, setting the stage for what is fast-becoming a classic rivalry.
Mexico has won three straight matches against their northern neighbors in WBC play, but manager Benji Gil knows his men face a formidable task.
“I’ve said this before, they are a super team,” Benji Gil said of Team USA. “They have a roster full of stars. They’ve got All-Stars, MVP candidates, Cy Young candidates, Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers.”
Mexico is led by Major League All-Stars Alejandro Kirk (catcher, Toronto Blue Jays), Randy Arozarena (outfielder, Seattle Mariners), Jonathan Aranda (infielder, Tampa Bay Rays) and Jarren Duran (outfielder, Minnesota Twins).
Team Mexico fans in Houston have been described as “ear-shatteringly loud,” so the atmosphere on Monday night at Daikin Park is expected to be like an MLB postseason game.
Gil is looking forward to the showdown.
“It has become a rivalry when maybe it should never have been a rivalry,” Gil said, acknowledging that the U.S. has always been heavily favored. “Maybe their rival should be Japan, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico. But it has become a rivalry because we’ve had success.”
This will be the fifth WBC match-up between these two teams and the only U.S. victory came nearly 20 years ago when the Stars-and-Stripes defeated Mexico on March 16, 2006, in a group-stage match.
However, Mexico quickly earned revenge, defeating Team USA 2-1 in the second round to eliminate the Americans from the competition.
El Tri beisbolero also defeated the U.S. 5-2 in 2013 and thumped the Red-White-and-Blue 11-5 in 2023. Both of those matches occurred in group play.
Mexico advanced to the semifinals in 2023, losing to eventual champion Japan 3-2. The U.S. won the 2017 WBC tournament and finished second to Japan in 2023.
The two teams did not face each other in the 2009 or the 2017 tournaments.
Italy has also won its first two Pool B games with a run differential of 11 and sits in second place thanks to the complex tiebreakers used to determine group standings. Great Britain and Brazil are each 0-3.
The Italians will face Team USA on Tuesday, then will take on Mexico on Wednesday.
The top two teams from Pool B will advance to the quarterfinals and the winner of Monday’s Mexico-USA clash is virtually guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage which begins on March 13.
With reports from Olympics.com, El Financiero and MLB.com
