The World Baseball Classic wrapped up this week with a familiar feeling for fans of both Team USA and the Philadelphia Phillies: anticipated disappointment. The slow descent of the American national team has closely mirrored that of the Phillies over the past few seasons, and in both cases the initial excitement that fans once felt has slowly turned into apathy and anger.
The World Baseball Classic began back in 2006, when a star-studded American roster featuring Phillies legends Chase Utley and Brad Lidge washed out in the second round. The disappointment continued in the 2009 tournament, when a U.S. team that included Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino fell short in the semifinals against Japan. 2013 was even worse, as the Americans bowed out once again in the second round, solidifying their reputation as tournament chokers.
However, all that changed in 2017 when a renewed sense of enthusiasm and some timely plays catapulted the United States national team to heights they had never been to before: tournament champions. Despite losing a game in each of the first two rounds, the scrappy Americans did just enough to make it through, and then bludgeoned a loaded Puerto Rican squad in the winner-take-all championship game.
Having finally tasted success, the United States was all-in on future tournaments, recruiting the best of the best in an effort to rack up gold medals for years to come. The underdog 2017 team gave way to a juggernaut 2023 roster that featured MVPs Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Paul Goldschmidt, as well as Phillies stars J.T. Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner.
The U.S. steamrolled their way to the championship round (except for a momentary slip-up against Mexico) and fans everywhere expected the squad to take home a second consecutive trophy. That was not meant to be, as the American offense went silent as they lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to Team Japan. That stunning defeat convinced American players to pull out all the stops, holding nothing back in their effort to climb back up the mountaintop.
The Phillies and Team USA have a long track record of disappointing fans
Heading into this year’s World Baseball Classic, the United States fielded perhaps the greatest collection of baseball talent ever seen. A 2023 pitching staff that was composed mainly of role players and past-their-prime former stars was replaced with top-to-bottom aces, including reigning Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal.
Last tournament’s shoddy bullpen gave way to a unit brimming with All-Stars and high-leverage arms, including phenom Mason Miller, perhaps the best relief pitcher on the planet. The already-fearsome lineup was boosted by multiple-time MVPs Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge, as well as 60-homer catcher Cal Raleigh. Suffice to say, on paper the United States looked unbeatable.
And yet, despite that jaw-dropping assembly of players, once games began the team looked lifeless from start to finish. They failed to impress in pool play, even losing their final contest against an upstart Italian squad. The quarterfinal matchup versus Canada was decided by a throwing error, and they only advanced past the Dominican Republic in the semifinals due to a blind umpire.
In the midst of all that on-field mediocrity, both the American players and management found ways to suck the joy out of a raucous tournament. Cal Raleigh found himself in hot water after spurning his Mariners teammate Randy Arozarena’s attempt to shake hands. Ace Tarik Skubal removed himself from the roster after a single meaningless start against an underpowered British squad in pool play. The cherry on top came from second-time Team USA manager Mark DeRosa who continually chowed down on his own foot throughout the competition.
First, DeRosa spilled the beans on his own lack of understanding by claiming that his team had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals before they finished pool play. To make things worse, he ran out the JV squad in that round’s final contest, and only scrambled to take the game seriously in the late innings, presumably after being made aware of his blunder.
Then, when asked by reporters about his colossal error, DeRosa argued that he simply “misspoke,” and actually knew his team’s circumstances the whole time. That plea fell on deaf ears, as the only possible explanations for his behavior are gross incompetence, arrogance, or just plain lying.
With all of that buildup, the United States’ road to the championship game against Venezuela felt less like a Roman triumph parade, and more like the Bataan Death March. The offense failed to hit for almost the entirety of the tournament, the players looked like zombies showing no emotion, and the coaching staff had proven their inability to put the team in a position to win.
All of those doubts proved well founded, as the United States appeared almost entirely lifeless in a 3-2 defeat in the gold medal match. The final score may make it seem like a nail-biter, but the only offensive spark came in the form of a Bryce Harper two-run home run that briefly tied things before the bullpen gave up the game-winning run in the next half-inning.
The fact of the matter is, the U.S. was never really close to winning the championship game, and in fact was lucky to have been there at all. Poor umpiring, opponents’ errors, and simple dumb luck got the squad that far, and they sleepwalked through the entire competition. That’s why, when things came crashing down at the very end, most fans were less heartbroken that the team failed, and more angry that this was the best such a talented roster could muster.
That sentiment dovetails perfectly into the last four seasons of Phillies baseball, as the red pinstripes have mirrored almost perfectly the rapid rise and then painful decline of the American national team. The post-Howard-Utley-Rollins rebuild years are quite similar to the first three WBC tournaments for USA baseball, as once great organizations wandered the wilderness searching for answers as to what they were doing wrong.
The 2022 Phillies made a Cinderella run to the World Series, taking the baseball world by surprise with such unexpected success. Likewise, an American program that had consistently disappointed shocked everyone by seizing the gold medal in 2017 despite myriad failures in its past. Unfortunately, both organizations then embarked upon a journey of disappointing fans, as an even better 2023 Phillies squad stepped on a rake in the NLCS, while a loaded 2023 WBC team couldn’t get the job done against Japan.
Now, the comparison has come full circle, as the Phillies of the past two seasons have completely underwhelmed despite expensive, talent-laden rosters, while this year’s WBC team couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag despite having perhaps the most potent offense in history coming into tournament play.
The comparison doesn’t just exist on the field, as fans of both organizations have had similar reactions to both situations. The excitement and enthusiasm that accompanied unexpected success slowly gave way to heartbreak and disappointment as the job continually went unfinished. Finally, after epic collapses when the stage was set for greatness, that passionate disappointment morphed into apathy and disgust.
Philly fans, just like Americans, are an interesting bunch. It all comes down to expectations. When a team has a long track record of futility, then all it takes to get them to rally around you is some mild success. A playoff appearance here, a solid WBC run there. That’s what made the 2017 USA team and the 2022 Phillies so special. They didn’t just make a little bit of noise after years of ineptitude. They blew the lid off previous expectations and gave their fans a ride they’d never forget. But with that shocking success came heightened expectations for the future. When those expectations go unmet, there’s bound to be trouble.
The follow-up acts to both of those iconic runs came up short in the worst way. Injuries or bad luck didn’t sink the Phillies or Team USA. These clubs weren’t afflicted by some outside force that snatched away their dreams. They simply wet the bed when it mattered most. Fans felt crushed that they couldn’t seal the deal, but both teams were offered a mulligan. No crying over spilled milk; just come back next time better than ever and blow everyone’s doors off. And that’s where things really went off the rails.
The 2024 Phillies couldn’t even reach the same underwhelming heights as the year before, as they were thoroughly depantsed by the hated division-rival New York Mets in the divisional series. Ditto for 2025, when the lineup fell asleep at the wheel and Orion Kerkering literally and figuratively threw their season away against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For their part, Team USA did largely the same thing. They shot themselves in the foot by forgetting the rules of the tournament, partied before they had won anything, took all the fun out of a kid’s game and completely disappeared when the pressure was on. If the two teams weren’t wearing different colored uniforms, it would be hard to tell them apart. Heck, they even had some of the same guys.
It’s often said that the opposite of love is hate, but some people counter that notion by claiming that the opposite of love isn’t hate, but instead apathy. The idea is that if you care about someone enough to hate them, then you still care about them. However, if you’re simply apathetic towards someone, then you’ve given up on caring about them altogether. One of the worst things someone can be in your mind is irrelevant.
That’s the situation that the Phillies and Team USA have put themselves in with their own fans after repeated disappointments when they have little reason not to succeed. The heartbreak and disappointment that accompanied the utter collapses of 2023 weren’t born out of hatred, but out of love. We loved the Phillies and the Americans so much that it broke our hearts when they failed us. It’s not that we’re just angry that they didn’t win, but we’re angry because we know they can do better.
Contrast that with the 2024 and 2025 seasons for the Phillies, and this past tournament for Team USA. There was no soul-crushing sadness in those defeats because there was no unbridled excitement in the buildup. These teams have let us down before, and we knew they couldn’t be trusted. Most importantly, they showed us who they really were the whole time.
The Phillies failed to upgrade an aging core that needed a jolt, and the feast-or-famine offense continued to go hungry in October. Team USA did nothing to add any flavor or intensity to a bland brand of baseball, and continued to bring an unserious attitude to a tournament that the rest of the world fought tooth and nail to win.
Fans are rarely disappointed when they haven't been given something to believe in, and in the case of the Phillies and Team USA, that belief ran out a few years back. Both of these organizations have enough talent and resources to right the ship overnight, but until the players and management sort out their issues, they’ll have a hard time convincing their fanbases to invest heavily into a cause they haven’t fully invested into themselves.