Team USA has its opponent for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) final on Tuesday night. 

Venezuela ended Italy’s magical WBC run on Monday night, coming from behind to defeat them, 4-2 at loanDepot park, earning a spot in the final against the United States. 

Italy was the surprise team of the tournament, taking down the U.S. in pool play before defeating Mexico to finish a perfect 4-0 in Pool B.

But that win over Mexico also kept Team USA alive in the tournament, allowing them to advance to the quarterfinals, where they defeated Canada before earning a thrilling 2-1 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic on Sunday night to punch their ticket back to the final.

While it felt only right for the U.S. and Italy to meet once more to determine who would win it all before the start of the 2026 MLB season, Venezuela had other things in mind during the bottom of the seventh inning.

Down 2-1 in the contest, Venezuela found themselves threatening with a potential two-out rally after Jackson Chourio, the Milwaukee Brewers’ rising star, singled to center field, allowing Andres Gimenez to advance to third base.

That’s when Ronald Acuña Jr., the face of Venezuelan baseball, reached first on an infield single that allowed Gimenez to score, tying the game at two apiece. But the rally wasn’t over just yet.

The Venezuelans caught fire after Acuña’s single, as Maikel Garcia singled to left field, scoring Chourio, and Luis Arraez brought home Acuña. With two outs, Venezuela seized all the momentum with a three-run seventh inning that made it 4-2.

Italy had been clinging to the lead since the bottom of the second inning, when they made the most of a bases-loaded situation. J.J. D’Orazio walked home a run, while Dante Nori grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored another to give Italy a 2-0 lead.

Slugger Eugenio Suarez got Venezuela on the board in the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run to left-center field, cutting the deficit to one. But they weren’t able to string together additional offense until that seventh inning.

From there, Italy could never get a rally started, as Daniel Palencia eventually shut the door in the ninth inning, striking out the final two Italian hitters.

As Venezuela celebrated, Italy hung their heads, but their story this month has been nothing short of incredible. Their espresso machine in the dugout — which captain Vinnie Pasquantino of the Kansas City Royals helped turn into a home run celebration — went viral as they continued to have success. The roster featured established MLB stars, top prospects and players with Italian heritage, earning praise from big leaguers throughout the past two weeks.

But it’s Venezuela, ripe with top MLB talent, ready to take on Team USA and starter Nolan McLean, who Italy touched up in their pool play game, on Tuesday night to determine who holds the rights to call themselves the best baseball team in the world for at least the next three years. 

Team USA and Venezuela will face each other at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. 

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Team USA World Baseball Classic manager Mark DeRosa shared the reason why Robert J. O’Neill, the U.S. Navy SEAL who is credited with killing terrorist Osama bin Laden, was invited to speak to the team last week.

O’Neill spoke to the team before the U.S. defeated Canada in the quarterfinal. The decision sparked a social media meltdown.

But before the game against the Dominican Republic, DeRosa was questioned about having O’Neill in the locker room.

“That was my decision to bring him in,” DeRosa said, via Defector. “He was brought in, actually, a couple of days in Houston. It wasn’t before the Canada game. I think for me there has to be … you never want it to get lost why you’re doing this. Whatever that ‘why’ is and a lot of people, like Paul Skenes said to me when he signed up for this, ‘I want to do this for every service man and woman that protects our freedom. That’s why we wear USA across our chest.’

2026 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC ODDS: USA HEAVY FAVORITE TO WIN IT ALL

“I just thought it would be like a time to kind of redirect and get those guys to understand that, although this is an unbelievable event and you get a chance to share a locker room with the game’s greats, there’s a reason why you’re doing it and a reason why people protect our freedom at night. I just wanted to honor that.”

O’Neill wasn’t the only one to hype up Team USA before the game.

DeRosa revealed that USA hockey hero Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal in the gold medal game against Canada at the Olympics, reached out to the American baseball players before Friday’s game.

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The U.S. defeated Canada and then went on to beat the Dominican Republic to reach the World Baseball Classic final.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

No. 1 Michigan: The Wolverines, who recorded 24 double-digit victories, are a top seed for the fourth time in program history. They will play the winner of the First Four matchup between Baltimore, Maryland County and Howard. Michigan finished the regular season by winning its final 15 Big Ten games, setting victory records for both the program and conference.

No. 2 Iowa State: The Cyclones started hot and at one point were ranked second in the country. They cooled at midseason, however, before hitting their stride again as they headed into the tournament. Iowa State opens against Tennessee State in St. Louis, which is a five-hour drive from Ames, Iowa, but is still a quasi-home game.

No. 3 Virginia: Virginia lost by four to Duke in the ACC tournament championship, but it was an improvement over a 26-point loss to the Blue Devils two weeks earlier. Playing for first-year coach Ryan Odom, the Cavaliers improved by 14 wins from last season, a school record. The matchup is a tall order for Wright State, which won a First Four game in 2022 by beating Bryant.

No. 4 Alabama: The Crimson Tide is the highest-scoring team in the country at 91.7 points per game. Alabama won 23 games and lost to Mississippi in the SEC quarterfinals. Hofstra, which has won seven in a row, could be a tough first-round matchup. Outstanding junior guard Labaron Philon Jr. leads Alabama and averages 21.7 points.

CINDERELLA SEARCH

Texas Tech is hobbling into the tournament without star forward J.T. Toppin, who suffered a season-ending knee injury. Opportunity awaits for the No. 12 Akron Zips, who won 20 of their final 21 games and have four players averaging double-figures in scoring.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Yaxel Lendeborg, forward, Michigan: A 6-foot-9 standout, Lendeborg withdrew from the NBA draft last May and chose to play his final season in Michigan after playing at Arizona Western and Alabama Birmingham earlier in his career. He was Big Ten Player of the Year.

Christian Anderson, guard, Texas Tech: After the Red Raiders lost Toppin, Anderson helped pick up the scoring slack. The point guard was named the Big 12’s most improved player and is coming back from a groin injury he suffered last Thursday against Iowa State.

Ugonna Onyenso, center, Virginia: The 7-foot player from Nigeria is a shot-blocking machine, with a record nine blocks in the ACC championship game against Duke and 21 over three tournament games. The previous record of 14 for the tournament was set 31 years earlier by Tim Duncan of Wake Forest.

RIM SHOTS

• Nolan Smith, a former Duke guard, took the Tennessee State coaching job in July and led the school to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1994.
• It has been 30 years since Santa Clara got an invite to the tournament: That was back when the Broncos had a dazzling Canadian point guard named Steve Nash.
• Miami (Ohio) is the first Mid-American Conference school to receive an at-large bid since 1999.

— Sam Farmer