The World Baseball Classic opened March 6 and ended March 17 in Miami, Florida, with Team Venezuela taking the win 3-2 against Team USA. The win marked Venezuela’s first win at the Classic and held symbolic meaning for the players who celebrated the win by singing their national anthem, “Gloria al Bravo Pueblo.”
The WBC began in 2006 and has been held roughly every three to four years since then (2006, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2023 and 2026). It has often been compared to the World Cup in soccer, and is used to celebrate national pride and global unity. The players participate in a Round Robin-formatted tournament: they are separated into four pools of five teams each and play each other, the top two teams from each pool advance into the quarterfinals, then the semifinals, then the finals. Many of the players play for Major League Baseball teams and the tournament has protections in place for pitching because of the tournament’s timing (spring training).
According to ESPN, Venezuela was a major underdog going into the final game against Team USA. However, it seemed clear since their performance in the semifinal that Venezuela was a strong contender. Furthermore, Venezuela had something to play for. In January, the United States bombed Venezuela and removed their president, Nicolàs Maduro. The move left Venezuela in a state of unrest and chaos and gave the player something to fight for in the game against Team USA.
While there were definitely mixed reports on how the Venezuelan people felt about Maduro’s removal, there was no question that the country gained an air of patriotism and drive to win in the Classic at the end of the day.
The game also followed reports of Latino and immigrant MLB players stating anonymously that they were scared of ICE. There’s nothing like a tournament of international players like the WBC, where the majority of the players play for the MLB and were still born in enough other countries to form 20 teams, to show how at risk these players were. Especially players on Team Venezuela, as all 42 players were born in Venezuela.
“Gloria al Bravo Pueblo/que el yugo lanzó”
