During the 2026 World Baseball Classic final, Oswaldo Cabrera was caught in a “weird” feeling. He was teammates with New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who also led Team USA. On the other side, by nationality, he was Venezuelan. Thus, he had to make a difficult choice of rooting against the Yankees captain.
After Venezuela won the final 3-2, he texted his former fellow Yankees teammate Gleyber Torres since he was part of the winning squad. He wrote:
“thank you for making 30 million Venezuelan people proud.”
In the text message, he also added that it was weird to root against Judge in the World Baseball Classic final.
“Don’t know what to say to Aaron Judge,” he added.
In a key moment during the game, Judge came up as the potential tying run for Team USA
Cabrera, watching from home, was actually hoping his teammate would fail. Judge grounded out and Venezuela won the game 3-2.
Cabrera also shared his house’s reaction to winning the tournament.
“The reaction in my house was incredible,” Cabrera said. “My mom, my dad, my sister – everybody was crying at home, because we know how much this means for us. … All the criers and the feelings came out. We were so happy.”
Oswaldo Cabrera On Special Feeling After Venezuela Won World Baseball Classic Final
It was a special feeling for every citizen of Venezuela after their country defeated Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. With the country going through a lot, a win like this will inspire the entire nation.
“That means a lot for everybody, but especially for a country who is having tough moments. It means a lot for us,” Cabrera said.
Cabrera suggested why this tournament may not be as “everything” for Team USA as it was for Venezuela.
“For the country, it means everything,” Cabrera said. “I was explaining to a couple of teammates last night, USA is good in everything. They are good in baseball, they are good in hockey, they are good in soccer, they are good in basketball. For Venezuelans, we are not that good in too many things at the Olympics. To have this championship in a sport for Venezuela, it’s a big thing.”
Now that the World Baseball Classic is behind us, the focus is on the MLB regular season.
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