Bracket set for final 8 in Classic

Plus: He hit 3 HRs, drank 3 shots of espresso

Thursday, March 12 View In Browser  TOP NEWS Everything you need to know about the quarterfinals   It's win-or-go-home time in the World Baseball Classic. The tournament's elite eight is set, with Korea facing the Dominican Republic, Team USA against Canada, Puerto Rico taking on Italy and Venezuela drawing Japan, the defending champs.   USA moves on to quarterfinals after Italy's win over Mexico Perfect Italy surges into quarterfinals powered by caffeine and kisses D.R. holds off Venezuela rally in 9th to claim top seed in Pool D Pasquantino, Don of Team Italy, makes Classic history with 3-HR game Canada tops Cuba to win Pool A, advance to quarterfinals for 1st time Facts, stats from homer-happy final day of Classic pool play PCA showing plenty of pop in first World Baseball Classic Top prospect Griffin is putting on a show ... but he's also 19. Where does he go from here? 'It means everything': HOF letting Dawson change cap on plaque MORE TOP NEWS PERSONALIZE STORIES PLAY A SPORCLE BASEBALL QUIZ! MORE FREE GAMES AT MLB PLAY EVERY D.R. HOMER IS A MASTERPIECE Each bat flip is better than the last, it seems, when players on Team Dominican Republic -- like Fernando Tatis Jr. -- go deep. THEY'RE HITTING SOME OF THE MOST ELECTRIC HOMERS WE'VE EVER SEEN STAFF PICKS Basallo ROY? Griffin 20/20? One prospect prediction for each club MLB Pipeline's experts go from organization to organization to make a 2026 prediction -- some of them bold, all of them educated -- about a phenom in each farm system. Have you ever seen a better baseball card? 'Fuhgeddaboudit!' Jac Caglianone's first World Baseball Classic home run for Team Italy was a no-doubter, so what better way to memorialize it than a baseball card with his signature and an indelible Italian-American phrase scrawled underneath. Saluting MLB's elder statesmen Will Leitch takes his annual look at the 10 oldest players in camps this spring. Braves' ace might be even better Spencer Strider might be a more complete pitcher now that he's had to deal with the adversity that followed his most recent right elbow surgery. The season's first pitch is less than 2 weeks away Opening Night on March 25 will feature the Yankees vs. the Giants, and Netflix is getting us in the spirit for the season-opening showdown. Spring Training tripleheader on MLB Network It's the Red Sox vs. Twins at 1 p.m. ET (available in Twins market), Braves vs. Pirates at 6 and Royals vs. Padres at 9. MORE STORIES SCOREBOARD PIT 2 BAL 7 STL 1 WSH 3 DET 1 MIN 2 TB 3 ATL 5 HOU 4 MIA 1 KC 8 CHC 9 SF 5 KC 2 LAA 8 CWS 4 MIL 3 CIN 6 ATH 13 AZ 3 COL 11 SEA 7 TOR 1 NYY 8 © 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Please review our Privacy Policy. You (geoffgould.gr8iphone@blogger.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com. Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe  or log in and manage your email subscriptions. Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.