Team USA will take on Team Venezuela in a quarterfinal matchup Saturday in the World Baseball Classic, and it’s possible that the game could come down to a key Philadelphia Phillies position player facing one of the club’s top relievers in a high-leverage situation.
While Team USA is currently listed as 1 1/2 run favorites in the game, Team Venezuela won Pool D, going 4-0 and defeating baseball powers Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the process. It would be fair to predict that this will be a competitive game in the ninth inning, at which point Phillies reliever José Alvarado — who has been operating as the closer for Team Venezuela — will likely be called upon. The hard-throwing lefty has allowed two hits and one walk while striking out four over two scoreless innings of work so far for his country.
Team USA has gone 3-1 thus far in the WBC, and advanced to the quarterfinals by finishing as the runner up in Pool C. Here’s a look at what the three Phillies players representing Team USA have done thus far:
- Kyle Schwarber has started in two games, DHing once and playing left field in the other. He has just one hit in six at-bats, but said hit was a three-run home run in Team USA’s first game of the tournament, a 6-2 win over Great Britain.
- J.T. Realmuto is 3-for-5 with two RBIs in his two starts. Given that Will Smith was the starting catcher for Team USA in their most recent win over Colombia, Realmuto will likely be behind the dish for the stars and stripes Saturday. This would also put the three-time All-Star in line to start in the final, should the USA make it that far.
- Trea Turner has three hits in 11 at-bats so far in the WBC, including a solo shot against Canada.
If Schwarber is in the lineup at all Saturday, there’s a very real chance that manager Mark DeRosa would pinch hit for him in a high-leverage situation against a left-handed reliever like Alvarado. Both Pete Alonso and Tim Anderson would be potential right-handed bench options that would present more favorable matchups for Team USA.
However, either Realmuto or Turner would likely be given a chance to face Alvarado. Alvarado facing Realmuto would be an especially interesting matchup given that the latter has caught the former during the best and worst moments in his first two seasons with the Phillies.
The winner of the USA-Venezuela matchup will move on to face Cuba in the semifinals on Sunday evening. Whichever Phillie(s) are on the losing end of the matchup will return to Clearwater early next week.
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