Short tournaments are nothing like the long regular season grind. The law of averages tends to catch up over 162 (or not, if you’re the Baltimore Orioles.) In a short tournament, anything can happen. Any team can sneak past a formidable opponent on guile and luck and the bounces of a round bat striking a round ball.
Italy doesn’t have the most talented roster in the World Baseball Classic. They have a few good players and, relative to their better decorated opponents, a whole lot of chaff. But the Italian team scraped through the first round, skating by on the strength of some soft tossers and timely hitting.
Through seven innings in their elimination game against Puerto Rico, Italy kept the magic going. The Puerto Ricans failed over and over with runners in scoring position and Italy held a 3-1 lead. Then all hell broke loose.
