Just two weeks after Team USA and Team Canada delivered an electric gold medal showdown at the Olympics, the sports world is being treated to another international tournament.
Team USA opened pool play Friday night against Brazil in what was expected to be a routine tune-up. The final score suggests exactly that — a 15–5 win — but the game was tighter than it looked. After eight innings, the Americans held just a three-run lead before pulling away late.
Team USA captain and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge made noise in the first inning. Just 11 months after committing to Team USA, he wasted no time showing off his power on the international stage.
With a runner on first and a 3–0 count, Judge made former Diamondbacks prospect Bo Takahashi pay for leaving a sweeper over the heart of the plate. The three-time MVP hammered the pitch 405 feet to left-center, giving Team USA the early lead.
Judge’s two-run blast immediately made it feel like Team USA had the game in hand and that it might just be a matter of time before the mercy rule came into play. Under World Baseball Classic rules, first-round and quarterfinal games end early if a team leads by 15 runs after five innings or 10 runs after seven.
“It has been great,” Judge said of the atmosphere at the ballpark. “I can go back to the first inning. Bobby Witt [Jr.] is up there and they are chanting ‘USA.’ My heart was pounding in the on-deck circle.
“It was an unreal atmosphere. And looking forward to more moments like that as the tournament goes on. We have a squad that is excited. We are gelling pretty early, which has been great. And it is time to take care of business.”
Fans didn’t have to wait long for another big moment. In the bottom of the first, Manny Ramirez’s son, Lucas Ramirez, took the second pitch he saw from Team USA starter Logan Webb and launched it over the right-field wall.
Lucas hits left-handed, but he clearly has the same flair for the dramatic in big moments. His 392-foot blast trimmed Team USA’s lead to one run.
“I think it kind of locked me in a little bit,’’ Webb said. “You know, only playing in the playoffs once, the two games I pitched, (Dodgers All-Star) Mookie (Betts) got hits off me. I feel like both times kind of locked me in. Luckily, those two times they were singles.
“This one obviously wasn’t.’’
Webb would immediately settle down, dominating Brazil’s lineup, he ended his outing on Friday night striking out six of the 10 batters he faced, with the last nine hitters failing to hit the ball out of the infield.
“I thought Logan took an inning to lock in,’’ USA manager Mark DeRosa said following the win, “then he was nasty for three. He didn’t have command of his off-speed early. I give credit to Manny’s son for jumping on one, getting him involved.’’
Webb threw 33 of his 52 pitches for strikes, setting the tone and keeping Brazil’s lineup in check. Former Red Sox starter Michael Wacha followed with three scoreless innings, striking out five, including the side in one frame. Gabe Speier added two strikeouts in the eighth, and Mason Miller fanned three in the ninth.
Ramirez delivered another big swing in the bottom of the eighth, launching a solo homer off Speier to cut the lead to three runs. At 20 years, 49 days old, he became the second-youngest player to hit his first World Baseball Classic home run.
Ramirez also went deep earlier this week, taking Rangers ace Jacob deGrom out in his first at-bat during Wednesday’s exhibition game in Surprise, Arizona. The younger Ramirez — who bats left-handed, unlike his father, by design — was selected by the Angels in the 17th round of the 2024 draft.
“I say you go out there with confidence, you can do anything,” Ramirez said. “If you say it out loud, it will happen. I am telling you. It will happen.”
Roman Anthony wasted no time introducing himself, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, two walks, and a run scored. He looked poised in his World Baseball Classic debut. On his two singles, Anthony recorded exit velocities of 95.2 mph and 82.7 mph, and he also squared up a ball at 100.9 mph on a 378-foot flyout.
Anthony also came up big earlier in the week during Team USA’s exhibition game against the Giants. The Red Sox outfielder crushed a 394-foot, two-run homer in that contest.
Team USA added Anthony to its roster late after Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll suffered a broken hamate bone. Despite having just 71 big league games under his belt, Anthony is embracing the chance to share the stage with some of the game’s best players.
Another bright spot for Team USA was Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, who gave Brazil fits at the plate all night. With one out in the fifth inning, Turang broke the game open by slicing a bases-clearing double to left field. Judge’s blast in the first set the tone for Team USA’s lineup, but Turang quietly finished with three of the team’s 10 hits and drove in four runs.
When Team Brazil turned to its bullpen early, it called on a 17-year-old high school pitcher to face Team USA’s loaded lineup.
Joseph Contreras emerged from the right-field bullpen in the second inning and became the youngest player to appear in a World Baseball Classic game since 2013. At 17 years, 291 days old, Contreras also carries a familiar name — his father, José Contreras, pitched in plenty of big games during his career with the Yankees.
The 6-foot-4 right-hander is ranked as the No. 47 draft prospect and is committed to play college baseball at Vanderbilt.
“He could fit into the top two rounds as one of the higher-ceiling arms in the high school class, though teams will have to sign him away from a Vanderbilt commitment,” Contreras’ MLB.com prospect profile says. “He still has room to pack plenty of muscle on his lanky frame, so he could add more power to his heater and his secondary offerings.”
In one of the game’s cooler moments, Judge stepped in to face Contreras with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning. Adrenaline was surely pumping for the 17-year-old, but he looked calm on the mound against the Yankees’ slugger. Contreras fired a 94.4 mph fastball that Judge rolled on the ground, resulting in a 5–4–3 double play to escape the jam.
The 17-year old Joseph Contreras gets the reigning MVP Aaron Judge to roll into a double play to end the inning! 😳
What a moment. pic.twitter.com/QQ3hS1Yen0
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 7, 2026
“Impressive,” Judge said following the game. “I know I wasn’t doing that at that age. Just great stuff. I know he had some poise on the mound. He’s throwing up to 100 miles an hour. He’s facing Team USA, a lot of guys he has seen on TV.
“It was just impressive, impressive just seeing him control himself out there and get out of a big jam. And he had some good stuff.”
Team USA will continue Pool B play Saturday night, sending two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal to the mound against Great Britain. It will be Skubal’s only start of the World Baseball Classic, as the Tigers ace will return to spring training afterward to continue building up for the MLB season.
Skubal will look to keep the United States’ momentum going before passing the baton to his National League Cy Young counterpart, Paul Skenes, for a marquee matchup against Mexico on Monday.
