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By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
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In the aftermath of Team USA's embarrassing 8-6 loss to Team Italy at the World Baseball Classic, a clip of a gaffe from manager Mark DeRosa was going viral. Then, Major League Baseball made things worse.
“It’s weird. We want to win this game even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals," DeRosa said during his appearance on MLB Network's "Hot Stove" on Tuesday, hours before the Americans played a game that would have actually clinched them a spot in the next round, had they won.
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As DeRosa was taking his well-deserved lumps for that comment, however, internet users quickly picked up on MLB taking down the segment from its website and YouTube channel. DeRosa spends most of his time as a studio analyst for MLB Network and has never managed one of the league's 30 clubs.
(UPDATE: As of early Wednesday afternoon, the 10 1/2-minute video of DeRosa's "Hot Stove" segment was restored on MLB's website)
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Former MLB Network host Scott Braun, who now hosts the "Foul Territory" podcast, quickly gave a voice to the thousands of fans who found MLB's attempt to erase an incriminating moment just as embarrassing as the moment itself.
"Guys, this isn't 1990," Braun said. "You can't erase (expletive). It's on the internet. It's there. Taking it down makes it worse. Then, you're going to go viral for that. Just leave it. Let the person come on after, like DeRo did, and he said he misspoke, apologize. It's still kind of crazy that that's the case, but it's 2026. You can't delete stuff."
DeRosa and Team USA rolled out a different, seemingly lesser lineup for the Italy game than it had for the previous contest, a 5-3 win over Team Mexico. In particular, the inclusion of first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who had yet to start any of the team's first three games, seemed to indicate that DeRosa thought his club was through to the next round.
Instead, the Americans have to sit back and watch Wednesday night as Italy and Mexico square off. An Italy win would guarantee Team USA a berth in the quarterfinals. If Mexico wins, it would need to score at least five runs to knock out Italy and send the U.S. through.
But if Mexico wins and scores four runs or less, DeRosa's words will live in WBC infamy, and MLB's attempt to do damage control won't be forgotten, either.
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