The energy is crazy in Miami right now! The World Baseball Classic is being held in loanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, and it’s been electric so far. Fans from every country flock to the stadium to watch their teams try to secure greatness. Monday night was special as well, as the fan darlings Italy took on Venezuela in the semifinals of the 2026 WBC.
In the end, it was Venezuela who came out on top thanks to Royals All-Star infielder Maikel Garcia’s heroics. After the game, though, Garcia was asked by former All-Star turned TV analyst Derek Jeter about the difference between the crowd tonight and the crowd in Kansas City. Garcia responded by agreeing with A-Rod.
“Take a look around, does this remind you of Kansas City?”
“Not even close.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/1fZb35QtlY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 17, 2026
It’s worth mentioning that before the quote, Garcia praised the atmosphere of the World Baseball Classic in general. The Royals pitcher remarked that the “Big leagues is not like this. This is amazing. This is different. I think this is going to help me to play better in the big leagues.”
Garcia also said that Venezuelan veteran and long-time Royals catcher Salvador Perez told him that the World Baseball Classic will feel different than other tournaments.
“Before we got here, he told me about [how] it’s different,” Garcia said of Perez. “We played before in winter ball. This is different than winter ball. It’s loud. There’s a lot of people from different countries. We have to make the plays and play good. He’s a great captain. He’s helped me a lot in the big leagues and he did a great job last night. Thank God we have him here.”
Venezuela advanced to the finals of the World Baseball Classic after beating Italy 4-2. The Venezuelans found themselves down by 2 runs entering the seventh inning, but a three-run surge capped off by Garcia’s go-ahead single secured the win for the Royal star’s team. Venezuela will now take on Team USA for the chance to win their first WBC title.
Garcia earned his first All-Star nod this year, batting a cool .286 while posting an OPS of .800 and hitting 16 home runs. The Royals hitter is batting .421 this WBC for Venezuela while having an absurd OPS of 1.134.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source clutchpoints.com ’
