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2038 World Baseball Championship (Part 2)
In the Double Round Robin, the United States was the only team to sweep its group at 6-0 in Group A. Venezuela at 3-3 advanced with 2-4 Australia and 1-5 Suriname ousted. Austria took top honors at 4-2 in Group B with both Nigeria and Indonesia 3-3 and England 2-4.
The Indonesians had the tiebreaker in their split with the Nigerians, who had an even run differential against each other. Nigeria was -5 against the other teams and Indonesia was -2. The Indonesians beat the Nigerians 7-4 in the final game of the round. Spain and Brazil both emerged from Group C at 4-4 over 3-3 Ethiopia and 1-5 Italy. And in Group D, it was Pakistan and Algeria advanced at 4-4 each. The Philippines was 3-3 and Egypt 1-5.
The Americans swept Indonesia 5-1 and 4-2 in their quarterfinal to keep their five-peat bid alive. Austria won 5-4 in a walkoff to start against Venezuela, then fell 6-2. Game three went 4-0 to the Austrians on a five-hit shutout by Philipp Schutz. Austria earned its fourth appearance in the final four, having last done it with their 2026 world title.
Pakistan outraced Brazil 8-7 in the opener, but the Brazilians matched 8-4. Game three was locked at 6-6 from the sixth inning until the tenth, when Brazil broke through on a walkoff solo homer by Caio Mergulho. Brazil advanced to the semifinal for the 25th time and fourth time in the 2030s. Lastly, Spain’s offense exploded for 14-5 and 11-6 wins in a sweep of Algeria.

The United States opened with a 4-0 win in their semifinal against Austria. Mason Pechart pitched 6.2 innings and all of his 17 outs were strikeouts. The Austrians matched with their own 2-0 shutout, then went ahead on a 10-5 win. The Americans rolled 9-2 in game four, then took the clincher 7-1 to advance to the finals for the eighth time in the decade. Jay Pirtle struck out 16 over 7.2 innings with one run allowed for the US.
Spain took their opener over Brazil 6-5, but it was all Brazil after that on 7-2, 6-5, and 14-5 results. The Brazilians hit 25 homers over the series, earning their 12th finals appearance and third of the 2030s. Austria officially took third place and Spain was fourth. This was the Austrians’ first time with the bronze medal and the Spaniards’ second time taking fourth.

The 92nd World Championship was another showdown between two of the top powers. They had most recently met in the 2031 finale, a sweep by the Untied States. The Americans had also defeated Brazil in 1984, 1976, and 1966. The Brazilians were five-time champs (most recently in 2033 over England), but hadn’t yet slain the American dragon.
The US opened strong on 7-1 and 6-4 wins, but Brazil grabbed the next two by 8-3 and 5-4 margins. The Americans went back ahead on a 4-0 winner in game five. In game six, Brazil opened with a two-run homer in the top of the first inning. The US got one back in the seventh, then Brandon McElveen’s solo homer in the bottom of the ninth tied it at 2-2.
In the tenth, Iriah Easton had a leadoff single and stole second. The bases were soon loaded after an intentional walk and unintentional one. Pablo Rivera’s sacrifice fly to center scored Easton for a 3-2 final and a fifth consecutive world title for the Americans. This US dynasty has seven rings in eight years, putting them at 48-9 overall in the championship. Brazil is now 5-7 all-time in the finale.


With more games, the USA broke the event record for runs scored (222) and hits (320), while tying the team doubles mark (53). Brazils 214 runs were third-most. They also set the top two spots for strikeouts with 564 by American arms and 483 for Brazil. This obliterated the old Ks mark of 448 set by the US in 448. The Americans also tied the saves record of 16.

America closer Devon Figueroa’s 12 saves were a new event record, as were Kent Taylor’s 7 wins. Taylor also had a new record for innings at 69 and led all pitchers with 2.6 WAR and 99 strikeouts. It was the third-most Ks in event history with Nick Hedrick’s 109 from 1957 still holding as the top mark. In a bad record, Uriah Easton was caught stealing 18 times, although his 28 successful steals were two short of the record.
South African SS Rajah Bhagwan was Tournament MVP in a dominant 18 game effort, leading all qualifying players in triple slash (.432/.517/1.162), OPS (1.679), wRC+ (370), and WAR (3.2). The 27-year old for AAB’s Asmara Anteaters had 32 hits, 25 runs, 17 homers, and 27 RBI. Bhagwan’s WAR was the sixth-best by a position player in event history and one of only ten times a position player recorded 3+ WAR.
Best Pitcher went to Mexico’s Nicky Aparicio, a two-time Reliever of the Year winner in CABA for Culiacan. The 28-year old righty tossed 21.2 innings in six appearances with a 0.42 ERA, 2-0 record, 4 saves, 38 strikeouts, and 1.3 WAR. His effort included a three-hit shutout against Uruguay.

Other notes: Five pitchers tossed no-hitters in the 2038 event, all coming in the divisional stage.

13-time APB MVP Binh Tang played his 19th tournament for Vietnam and became the 3rd in event history with 100+ career home runs. His 101 sits behind Jimmy Caliw’s 121 for the Philippines and Connor Neumeyer’s 111 for the US. Tang also became the 5th to score 200 runs in the WBC. He’s also 4th in hits (285) and 4th in WAR (18.88) among position players. Japan’s Masanori Fukuoka is also close to the 100 dinger club with 98.
Below are the updated all-time team stats
Last edited by FuzzyRussianHat; 12-01-2025 at 10:28 PM.
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