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Mets rookie Nolan McLean took the mound for Team USA and against Venezuela in the 2026 World Baseball Classic championship on Tuesday night, and gave his team a chance.

It was an inauspicious start for the youngster, as he threw a 98 mph first-pitch fastball to Ronald Acuña Jr., and the former NL MVP laced the pitch up the middle for a leadoff hit. McLean would bounce back, though, getting Maikel Garcia to ground into a double play, erasing Acuña. Luis Arraez then followed up by flying out to center.

McLean's second inning started off great, with the young right-hander striking out Eugenio Suarez and Gleyber Torres.Ezequiel Tovar dumped an opposite-field single before Wilyer Abreu popped out to shortstop to get through two scoreless innings. 

Salvador Perez led off the top of the third with a single, but McLean struck out Jackson Chourio before walking Acuña with one out. The righty shanked a curveball that got past catcher Will Smith, allowing the runners to advance. 

Garcia capitalized by bringing home Perez with a sac fly, but that was the only damage in the inning as McLean induced an inning-ending Arraez groundout. 

Unfortunately for Team USA, that run mattered a lot as the offense just could not get going in the early going. Team Venezuela's starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, allowed just one hit and one walk in his 4.1 innings pitched as he blanked the high-powered US team.

"Nolan McLean pitched his tail off," Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said after the game. "We were not prepared for him to go five. We were thinking he’d give us three, he give us four and we would go right to the bullpen and see where the game is at. That’s a testament to him. He had unbelievable stuff tonight. He matched Eddie."

McLean's fourth inning of work was an easy 1-2-3 while throwing only 51 pitches. 

Abreu, who had arguably Venezuela's biggest home run earlier in the WBC, took McLean deep on a 0-1 fastball that he launched 414 feet over the centerfield wall. That leadoff homer gave Venezuela a 2-0 lead. 

"I could've executed a little bit better," McLean said. "But he's a really good player at the same time. I would love to go back and make a different pitch, obviously."

McLean got the next two batters out before he was pulled after pitching 4.2 innings (63 pitches/44 strikes), allowing two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four.

After the game, McLean was asked about this game and rated it a seven out of 10, but was generally pleased with it.

"I felt good out there. Proud of the way I competed," McLean said of his outing. "Stuff felt great, filling up the zone, tried to control everything I could."

And although Bryce Harper's two-run shot in the eighth tied the game at 2-2, Venezuela would get the go-ahead run in the ninth to capture their first WBC Championship with a 3-2 win.

But without McLean's start, the game could have gotten away from Team USA.

"Whenever you go down two-nothing, it's tough, but I thought Mac threw the ball great," Harper said of McLean. "He’s a special talent; he’s going to be a special talent for a long time. We got a lot of great young guys in there who are going to play again on this team. Baseball’s in a really good spot." 

Nolan McLean is fired up after inducing a big double play in the first

(via @WBCBaseball) pic.twitter.com/EZ8UvqG4QL

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 18, 2026

Nolan McLean strikes out Eugenio Suarez and Gleyber Torres in the second!

(via @WBCBaseball) pic.twitter.com/BsIirOhgtU

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 18, 2026

Nolan McLean's fourth strikeout of the evening

(via @WBCBaseball) pic.twitter.com/mawEy57gRG

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 18, 2026

New York Post | Joel Sherman: ($) Gerrit Cole will return to the field Wednesday, starting a spring training game against the Red Sox. The Yankees’ ace is scheduled to pitch one inning, marking his first appearance since spring training of last year, when he sustained a UCL injury that required Tommy John surgery. While this development is encouraging, Cole will still begin the year on the IL as he continues to build himself up to full strength, with late April his earliest plausible return window.

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: There’s encouraging news on New York’s other injured frontline starter as well. Carlos Rodón is expected to return “at some point in April,” Aaron Boone told the press Tuesday, confirming that the left-hander is still on the same schedule outlined at the start of spring. Boone did not rule out Rodón making a spring training appearance as well, though none are currently scheduled.

Boone also confirmed he would be comfortable with playing third baseman Ryan McMahon at shortstop, a development that has ramifications for several players hoping to make the team. With Anthony Volpe starting the season on the IL, McMahon’s ability to serve as a fill-in for starter Jose Caballero would allow the team to carry Randal Grichuk, a right-handed outfielder who fills an area of need, instead of utilityman Max Schuemann or one of the team’s non-roster invitee shortstops.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: ($) A story about the conspicuous lack of stories coming out of Yankees’ spring training camp. Luis Gil, the team’s projected fifth starter, struggling and Cam Schlittler dealing with minor back and lat discomfort have been the closest thing to drama permeating George M. Steinbrenner Field. Jasson Domínguez, the heralded former top prospect who played in 123 games last season, is slated to start the season at Triple-A, but he’s handled the demotion with aplomb, skirting a potential pain point. This type of calm is “very unique for spring,“ said Giancarlo Stanton.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: The Yankees reassigned non-roster invitee Bradley Hanner to minor-league camp Tuesday morning as the team continues to whittle down its roster. The right-hander had a 9.00 ERA in five appearances in big-league camp after signing a minor-league deal with the Yankees on the heels of a middling campaign last year with the Rockies’ Triple-A team. With this move, New York now needs to clear 20 more roster spots to get down to 26 for Opening Day.

JUPITER, Fla. — Sean Manaea tossed four no-hit innings against the Marlins on Tuesday.

Still, the number that many observers paid attention to was the speed of his four-seam fastball, which remained in the 86-88 mph range, down about 3 mph from a year ago.

“It’s low, but I feel good,” the lefty said after his outing in a 5-5 tie at Roger Dean Stadium. “I’m not concerned about it whatsoever. I’ll get to Citi Field, get the adrenaline going and it will shoot back up.”

Perhaps, but there’s no guarantee of that happening for the 34-year-old who went through a miserable, injury-plagued 2025.

And if his fastball doesn’t get to the 90s, Manaea said he is confident he can get batters out.

“I’ve pitched with 86-87 [mph],’’ Manaea said. “I don’t want to be there, but I still think I’m effective. I’ll fill up the strike zone and mix and match.”

He also believes the cutter he’s working on could help offset a potential loss of velocity.

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But with the regular season quickly approaching, a tick up in velocity would be positive and Carlos Mendoza said he’s not sure that will happen.

“We don’t know,’’ the manager said. “I would say yes, especially with what he went through [physically] last year. It might take some time.”

Mendoza remained pleased that Manaea was able to get swings and misses without his best fastball and that the cutter was effective.

But both he and Manaea would like to see some low-90s on the scoreboard.

“I think it’s in there,’’ Mendoza said. “I think the velo will come.”

Carson Benge’s hot spring has put him in a spot to win a job out of spring training and now MJ Melendez is off to minor league camp.

Melendez, signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, got off to a hot start in Mets camp, but the outfielder’s lack of playing time once he left to play for Team Puerto Rico in the WBC likely ended his chances of making the Opening Day roster.

Mendoza said Tuesday after Melendez was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse — along with right-hander Christian Scott — that the outfielder needed to get more reps at the plate.

“He’s got to get at-bats,’’ the manager said of Melendez, who went 4-for-11 with two homers with the Mets, but then got just six plate appearances in the WBC before Puerto Rico was eliminated.

In Tuesday’s game against the Marlins, Tyrone Taylor got the start in left, with Luis Robert Jr. in center and Brett Baty in right.

Both Benge and Mike Tauchman, another left-handed hitter, have impressed this spring.

Scott was optioned after a fairly encouraging spring, as the 26-year-old right-hander is coming back from 2024 Tommy John surgery.

“He came in in a really good spot,’’ Mendoza said. “He worked hard in his rehab process, especially after getting a taste [of the majors] in 2024.”

He will serve as more rotation depth for the Mets, who have six viable starting pitchers with Opening Day little more than a week away.

In other roster moves Tuesday, right-handers Adbert Alzolay, Nick Burdi and Daniel Duarte and infielders Christian Arroyo and Jose Rojas were reassigned to minor league camp.

Even the avid baseball fan would have acknowledged that were Venezuela to win the World Baseball Classic, Ronald Acuña Jr. would likely be the MVP. 

Maikel Garcia made sure to keep it in the family. 

He's almost better-known as the cousin of the great Atlanta Braves outfielder, but in leading Venezuela to its first World Baseball Classic championship, Garcia forged his own road to stardom. 

Garcia led the WBC with 10 hits in seven games and they came in almost every form: A home run, a bunt single and a pair of doubles as he drove in seven runs and stole three bases – absolute kerosene in Venezuela’s No. 2 hole between Acuña and three-time batting champion Luis Arráez.

This World Baseball Classic, the moment never looked too great for Team Venezuela. They stared down an early deficit against defending champions Japan, then caught fire to overtake them and reach the semifinals. When the upstart Team Italy gave them a scare, they once again punched back, riding a seventh-inning rally to punch their ticket to their very first WBC final. On Tuesday night, against a hungry Team USA, Venezuela’s offense struck quickly and Eduardo Rodriguez set the tone with a terrific start on the mound. Even when Bryce Harper’s late home run tied the score, they responded immediately with a rally of their own to jump back on top. In the end, Eugenio Suárez’s go-ahead double in the top of the ninth was the crowning moment for Venezuela, who celebrated their first ever World Baseball Classic championship at loanDepot park in Miami.

Both starting pitchers came out of the gate hot. Nolan McLean induced a double play from speedster Maikel Garcia and retired the side on five pitches in the top of the first, then Rodriguez wasted little time sending the U.S. packing in the home half. The next time Garcia saw McLean though, there were two runners in scoring position in the third. The Royals third baseman and soon-to-be WBC MVP (.970 OPS with a WBC-leading 10 hits) hammered a ball to Byron Buxton in left center field, but it was plenty deep enough to score the game’s first run for Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez continued to hum. The 32-year old southpaw cruised through 4.1 innings, scattering two baserunners while striking out four. He combined with Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo to limit the star-spangled American lineup to one hit in the first five full frames. E-Rod has had his share of struggles the past few seasons, but he was in vintage form in what must have ranked as the biggest game of his life.

In the top of the fifth, Venezuela exploited McLean’s biggest weakness: the home run ball. Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu, whose go-ahead home run against Japan gave Venezuela the chance to make it to this game, punished a middle-middle fastball from McLean to the deepest part of loanDepot park and extended the lead to 2-0.

Venezuela manager Omar López was able to turn things over to his bullpen, a unit which carried the day in the quarterfinal against Japan and especially in the semifinal against Italy. Giants righty José Buttó pitched around a Harper two-out single, then Angel Zerpa and Andrés Machado combined for a scoreless seventh.

Meanwhile, the American bullpen matched Venezuela’s stride for stride. Brad Keller took over for McLean with two outs in the fifth and passed the baton to Will Vest after collecting four quick outs. Vest posted a scoreless seventh, then Griffin Jax a spotless eighth. Much like the semifinals, this game would come down to the late innings.

In the bottom of the eighth, Team USA got a runner aboard with two outs for the third straight inning—this time on a walk from Bobby Witt Jr. As any baseball fan knows, you can only allow two-out baserunners so many times before a team makes you pay. Indeed, Bryce Harper only needed one swing to make Machado pay dearly for the free pass. He clobbered Machado’s 1-0 center-cut changeup over the center field wall for a dramatic game-tying home run.

From there, it could have been so easy to crumble, but Machado rebounded to strike out Aaron Judge to end the inning. It was a tough night for the captain, as he went 0-for-4 with a hat trick of K’s. Having been four outs away from victory, Venezuela needed to muster a quick reply—and did they ever.

It started with what else but a leadoff walk. Boston’s Garrett Whitlock lost Luis Arraez to a base-on-balls; López sent in Marlins speedster Javier Sanoja to pinch-run. Sanoja immediately put the rally on the line by taking off for second, and beat Brice Turang’s tag by a shoestring. The call upheld on review, giving Venezuela a critical runner in scoring position.

Enter Eugenio Suárez. The veteran slugger worked Whitlock to a full count before slashing the payoff offering to the left-center gap. Pete Crow-Armstrong could only reach it on the first bounce—Sanoja motored home to put Venezuela back on top. Tyler Rogers entered to put out the fire, but Team USA was once again compelled to come from behind.

Venezuelan closer Daniel Palencia entered with no margin for error to close out the World Baseball Classic. He gave them no quarter. First, he struck out Kyle Schwarber. Then, he induced a harmless popup from pinch-hitter Gunnar Henderson to Garcia at third. Finally, Palencia got Roman Anthony to swing through a fastball and give his country their first World Baseball Classic crown.

After having to rally from behind in the previous two rounds to reach their first ever title game, Venezuela was able to snag the initiative, bounce back from the late Harper homer, and again rely on their bullpen to finish the job. In the postgame, They got their revenge on America in the process—in 2023, Team USA rallied from behind to stun them on the back of a Trea Turner grand slam, but this time, they could not find the go-ahead hit.

As for why this theoretical best US lineup ever constructed never fully jelled, well, it’s impossible to say. But not for nothing, the hitting coach for this group is a guy who should be familiar to Yankee fans.

Now, the MLB season awaits. It’s always sad when the WBC wraps up, but the 2026 Classic was another terrific tournament, providing thrills the whole way through. At last, Aaron Judge will go from being Team USA captain back to New York Yankees captain, and a consequential season in pinstripes awaits. Of course, we at Pinstripe Alley will be with you for every out, run, and win.

Congratulations to Team Venezuela!

Box Score

Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz believes he has a way to make the World Baseball Classic even better. 

Smoltz appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday and was asked how MLB could up the ante with the international baseball tournament. 

“I think you make it bigger when you do it in the middle of the season and shut it down for a week,” Smoltz opined. “I’ve been saying that for years. I think it’s the perfect spot to showcase the international talent, you would have everybody wearing that uniform, they’d be in midseason form, there would be no restrictions, you truly get to see the Goliath against the Goliath without them coming out and throwing a million arms.”

"I think you make it bigger when you do it in the middle of the season and shut it down for a week."

– John Smoltz on how to make the WBC bigger. pic.twitter.com/ZMhCRDRy5s

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 17, 2026

This year’s World Baseball Classic has been incredibly successful for the sport, with Tuesday’s championship, won 3-2 by Venezuela over Team USA, expected to shatter viewership records. 

While Smoltz acknowledged it likely wouldn’t ever happen, he pointed to the success of the Four Nations Face-Off the NHL put on in 2025 instead of an All-Star Game. 

“This tournament has accomplished its goals,” Smoltz said about the WBC. “Team Italy, baseball’s gonna be thought of differently there. You’ve got other countries that are bringing baseball to the forefront when other sports were really kinda marquee and king. That has worked. Is it the perfect timing? No.”

He said he passed along his idea to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and said he would be OK with the idea of doing a World vs. USA format to replace the MLB All-Star Game. 

“If you shut the game down for a week and give everybody the break they need, you could do so many things to promote within that week and own that week,” Smoltz said.

While Smoltz’s ideas are interesting, it would be a tough sell for MLB to hold the event in the middle of a season. 

And while the eight-time All-Star made a fair point in the tough job Team USA manager Mark DeRosa has, having to run decisions by players’ MLB managers first, that likely wouldn’t go away during some sort of in-season international tournament.

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Somewhat quietly, Will Warren is nearing the end of a strong spring.

If he can carry over that success into the regular season, it probably will not stay as quiet.

In his penultimate start of the Grapefruit League schedule, Warren looked sharp again, giving up one run over four-plus innings while striking out four to lower his ERA to 1.77 through five starts.

“Will’s kind of the non-talked-about guy, I feel like, in our rotation,” manager Aaron Boone said before the 3-2 win over the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park. “He looks great. Obviously he threw the ball well for us last year, but it feels like another notch to me.”

Each of the last two springs, at this point on the calendar, Warren still did not know whether he was going to be starting the season in the big league rotation.

And while his spot this year is secured at least to start the season, coming off a 33-start year in 2025, Warren has kept the same approach like he is fighting for a job while making adjustments to get better.

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That has included moving to the third-base side of the rubber, which has given him better angles to attack both righties and lefties, and starting to use the PitchCom on his belt to call some pitches.

“Sometimes I want to make sure that I get a pitch thrown in that count without hesitation, especially with the [pitch] clock, so I’ll call it,” said Warren, who plans to use it in the regular season as well. “Sometimes I send in two [pitch calls], J.C. [Escarra] gives me one back and sometimes I just let him do his thing because I trust him back there.”

The end goal is to have confidence and conviction in what he is throwing, which Warren indicated is the biggest difference for him now versus the end of last season.

“Just going up there and throwing my stuff over the plate,” he said. “This whole spring, [the goal has been] being as efficient as possible. Max Fried’s made a great career out of that and he’s going to keep doing it. So trying to pitch like that.”

Though Gerrit Cole is set to make his spring debut Wednesday, Carlos Rodón will not appear in a Grapefruit League game before the Yankees break camp.

The left-hander, returning from October elbow surgery to shave down a bone spur and remove loose bodies, is scheduled to throw another live batting practice Thursday — while Fried and Ryan Weathers start the two split-squad games that day — building up to two innings and 35 pitches.

But by the time he pitches again in five days, the Yankees will be in Arizona playing a final exhibition against the Cubs before Opening Day.

Still, Rodón remains on track to only miss a few weeks if everything goes well.

“I would expect him back at some point in April,” Boone said.

Boone did not want to touch whether David Bednar would be available to pitch for Team USA in Tuesday’s WBC final, but it did not sound as if that would be the case.

The Yankees closer would have been pitching for the third time in five days, and had already racked up some high-stress innings with 68 pitches across three outings from March 10-15, all of which Boone acknowledged.

Yerry De los Santos has not pitched in 10 days as he tended to a family situation, but he returned to camp Tuesday. … The Yankees reassigned RHP Bradley Hanner to minor league camp. They now have 49 players left in big league camp.

We have a new World Baseball Classic champion to add to the list of winners of this now-prestigious tournament. It also just so happens that the current face of the Atlanta Braves helped to push the team and his country to the winner’s circle. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Venezuela completed their dark-horse run by taking down Team USA 3-2 in order to win the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Acuña contributed to the cause on Tuesday night with a hit and a walk over the course of three plate appearances. He didn’t score a run in this one but he finished the tournament with 10 runs scored along with seven hits, seven walks and two stolen bases. That’s good for a slash line of .269/.424/.538 with an OPS of .962 over the small sample size of tournament baseball.

Two of those seven hits were homers but there was no bigger hit for Venezuela in this tournament than the clutch RBI double from Eugenio Suárez that regained the lead for Venezuela after Bryce Harper hit a clutch homer of his own to tie the game up in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Simply put, this was an incredible game of baseball where both teams treated the situation with the magnitude that a winner-take-all game like this deserves. For Team USA, it’s a second-straight run to the Final that ends in disappointment despite the late-game heroics from Harper. For Ronald Acuña Jr. and Venezuela, it’s a defining win for the sport of baseball in that country and that team will surely go down in Venezuelan sports history for pulling off this great run to the title.

For Braves fans, it was certainly encouraging to see Ronald Acuña Jr. going at full-tilt throughout this entire competition and if that translates to the regular season then we should be in for plenty of fun once the season gets underway. Most importantly, Acuña got through this completely healthy and he looks like he’s firing on all cylinders. He was already a World Series champion but now he’s a World Baseball Classic champion — and this time, he was on the field to do something about it.

Congratulations to Ronald Acuña Jr. and Team Venezuela on a job well done throughout the tournament and congratulations to everybody involved in this year’s WBC for putting on an incredible show. Let’s do this again in three-to-four years, right?