Mark DeRosa Roasted For Interview Answer During Team USA-Canada World Baseball Classic Game

It has not been a great last few days, at least public relations wise, for Mark DeRosa as manager of the Team USA World Baseball Classic team.

It all started when some comments from DeRosa ahead of Team USA's game against Italy in the Pool Play round of the WBC rose eyebrows as the US fell behind 8-0. Even though they had yet to clinch their spot in the quarterfinals, DeRosa threw out more of a "B" team lineup, and didn't manage his pitching staff with the intensity of a must-win game. That's when observant fans brought up that DeRosa revealed players had been up late partying and celebrating after beating Mexico. And that DeRosa appeared to believe they'd already advanced out of the first round.

Then, after the game, he admitted that the coaching staff hadn't done the math correctly on the potential tiebreakers, upsetting fans even more. Thankfully, Italy bailed them out by hammering Mexico. Still, DeRosa wasn't done there. Somehow, he made things worse by saying there were "false narratives" about his coaching performance…and still misspoke when trying to defend himself.

RELATED: Team USA Manager Mark DeRosa Digs Himself Deeper Trying To Explain Previous Comments

Well, in a mid-game interview during Team USA's quarterfinal matchup against Canada, he had a chance to clarify and just…didn't take it.

HOUSTON, TX - MARCH, 5: World Baseball Classic Media Day at Daikin Park on March 5, 2026 in Houston, TX. (Photo by Rankin White/Houston Astros)

(Houston Astros/Getty Images)

Mark DeRosa Given Softball Question, Still Flubs It

On-field reporter Ken Rosenthal had a brief minute to talk to DeRosa early on in Friday night's game, with some bizarre framing, and focused his first few questions on starter Logan Webb and what the US offense needed to do to break through against Canadian starter Mark Soroka. But his third question tangentially touched on DeRosa's mishandling of the Italy game and inexcusable lack of understanding on tiebreakers. Kinda.

"You've taken a lot of criticism in the last 48 hours," Rosenthal said. "Is there anything you would like people to know just about the way you approach this job?"

"Have an undying passion for it, and an undying belief in every guy on this roster," DeRosa responded. "I don't think there's an ‘A’ and a ‘B,’ I think they're all 'A's'."

That's it? 

Nobody's questioning DeRosa's passion for the team and for the players, it's obvious he wants to win and takes this tournament seriously. The issue is that US baseball plays in the World Baseball Classic once every three years, meaning there are three years to prepare for tiebreaker scenarios. It didn't even take preparation to figure out the tiebreaker scenarios, literally just basic math. They somehow got that wrong too. 

DeRosa's trying to defend himself by saying he hadn't used a "B" lineup in the Italy game. But he clearly did, and the fact that he had a retired Clayton Kershaw warming up in the 8th inning before using Mason Miller instead tells you they didn't realize the importance of not allowing runs until near the end of the game. That's unacceptable, regardless of the passion he has. 

In the aftermath, announcer John Smoltz defended DeRosa by saying the so-called "B" lineup didn't perform poorly, and Rosenthal chimed back in to say that none of it would have mattered if they'd have beaten Italy. Except they didn't, and it might have been due to DeRosa's lack of understanding of the tiebreaker rules. Rosenthal said it looked "bad" because they didn't win. It looked bad because it was bad, and would have been bad even in a win. 

Thankfully, it didn't wind up mattering, but that doesn't excuse the mistake. Or Rosenthal and Smoltz downplaying it.