World Baseball Classic – USA Pitcher Marcus Stroman (Sporting News)

On a cool night in Los Angeles in front of over 50,000 fans, the United States faced off against Puerto Rico in their first World Baseball Classic final. They walked out the champions in a shutout, 8-0 at Dodger Stadium.

Team USA was backed by a strong outing by Long Island native Marcus Stroman, and a two-run home run from Ian Kinsler. Stroman, the Blue Jays ace, silenced the most powerful bats in the entire tournament. He pitched six hitless innings, before letting up a hit to free agent Angel Pagan in the 7th inning. The MVP of the World Baseball Classic finals also struck out three and walked one on 73 pitches.

Stroman was showing a lot of passion throughout the whole night. In fact, you could feel the passion coming from both teams and even the fans throughout the whole tournament. With chants of “U-S-A!” echoing throughout Dodger Stadium, it was the end to a very satisfying run.

Team USA has had a lot of decorated players on its team over the years. While several “superstars” didn’t join the team this year, it ultimately didn’t matter. A group of talented individuals came into the tournament and worked as hard as they could to reach the end of an epic journey. Behind Adam Jones’ incredible catch a few nights ago and Stroman’s performance tonight, Team USA made a statement.

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On the other side, Mets pitcher Seth Lugo did his best after Puerto Rico dominated Team USA last time out. He had seven strikeouts in four innings. While he gave up the same amount of earned runs as he did walks (4), Lugo worked his tail off. The Puerto Rican team united for a common goal, and even though they lost it appears they became closer as a result.

While some may not appreciate it as much, this year’s World Baseball Classic created moments that will last a lifetime. I was actually skeptical at first until I saw what was actually happening. Israel surprised everyone and international fans brought something new to the table. Baseball truly felt special during these past few weeks.

As the WBC ends, players will either go back to their respected countries or resume participating in Spring Training. Congratulations to Team USA! They may be celebrating now, but its back to business when the MLB season begins in just a few short days.