Advancing for the first time to the quarter finals in the World Baseball Classic is giving Canada’s team a chance to get revenge for the nation’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, which lost Olympic gold last month to the U.S.
The
is set for tonight in Houston.
“(Canadian baseball players) took a lot of grief in the clubhouses during that game, the day after especially,” Canadian pitching starter Michael Soroka told MLB.com. “It would be nice (to get revenge).”
Even before the Olympics, the U.S. vs. Canada rivalry was in the spotlight going back to the
boos heard from American fans when the Canadian anthem
was played in the final game at the 4 Nations hockey tournament in February 2025 – not long after U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his 51st State attacks and imposed tariffs on Canada.
It was revenge for Canadians booing the American anthem at professional sporting events held in Canada after Trump’s offensives. Boos also filled the Bell Centre in Montreal when the American anthem was before played before U.S. games earlier in the 4 Nations tournament.
The Canada-U.S. rivalry continued in the World Series last fall, when the Los Angeles Dodgers ultimately prevailed over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Turning to the WBC, the Americans have won the past four outings against Canada, including a 12-1 win in 2023.
Canada has participated in
(2006, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2023), but has never reached the knockout stage before. Canada clinched its quarterfinal berth with a 7-2 win over Cuba on Thursday.
Otherwise, it’s been 20 years since Canada beat the U.S. in the WBC, which was an 8-6 game in the very first WBC back in 2006.
Members of the U.S. baseball team were still in spring training when American hockey player Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Canada, capturing America’s first men’s hockey gold since 1980.
Hughes, a center for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, contributed to the cause by
sending the team a video pump-up speech
ahead of tonight’s game. It was distributed on the American team’s group chat by coach Mark DeRosa.
However, Canada is pumped for a win, according to the team coach Ernie Whitt.
“We’re extremely proud that we’re moving forward,” Whitt said to
after Canada won over Cuba to make it to the quarter final. “It took us a long time to do it. We now have some real good positional players. We have some real good arms out there that are performing for us to move forward. I’m excited about that.”
One of the top players on the Canadian team is Montreal’s Abraham Toro. “We just came together (for the game against Cuba), and everybody was so positive,” Toro told TSN. “Hopefully we keep this momentum for the next round.”
Toro has been the key to Canada’s offence, hitting three doubles, a triple, a home run, and driving in five runs. And Toro’s on-base percentage is
better than anyone on the U.S.’s stacked lineup
, including three-time American League most-valuable player, New York Yankee Aaron Judge and power-hitter and catcher Cal Raleigh.
National tensions will be running high tonight, says U.S. starting pitcher, Logan Webb.
“You have rivals during the season, but I don’t think it matches up to anything like this. It’s going to be crazy,” Webb told MLB.com. There’s nothing like a match-up of two national teams to get emotions stirring, he added.
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