Team USA can silence all the noise with a WBC semifinal win over the high-powered Dominican Republic

MIAMI — Of all the reasons Bryce Harper looked forward to playing in the World Baseball Classic, one might’ve topped all the rest.

“Being able to take a step back and act like you are 16, 17, 18 years old again,” he said last month, “and just playing with your buddies.”

Which begs the question: Is Team USA having any fun yet?

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It doesn’t seem like it, does it? Not compared to, say, those muscle-flexing boppers from the Dominican Republic, the Americans’ opponent here at 8 p.m. Sunday in a semifinal clash of baseball titans that U.S. manager Mark DeRosa is forecasting will be “one of the best games of all time.”

Because while Fernando Tatís Jr. flips — nay, javelin-throws — his bat, and Junior Caminero high-steps around the bases, and Juan Soto pounds his chest — all after blasting moonshot homers — the most talented U.S. team ever assembled took the back door out of pool play in Houston before tiptoeing through a cuticle-gnawing quarterfinal Friday night against Canada.

Publicly, at least, the Americans insist they’re enjoying this. But they appear to be dragging the weight of the baseball world after a runner-up finish to Japan in 2023 and the declarations of DeRosa and several players that this year is championship or bust.

All the swagger is in the Dominican dugout. The Americans on loan from major-league teams look like they’re on a business trip. Or, in the words of former big-league outfielder Cameron Maybin on X, “dry as hell.”

Maybe everything is about to change. Maybe Paul Skenes, reigning National League Cy Young winner, will dominate until reaching his pitch count — “I would assume 75 to 80,” DeRosa said, less than the allotted 95 in the semifinals and finals — and mute both the Dominican bats and what is expected to be a boisterous, pro-D.R. crowd.

“I like any game that Paul Skenes pitches,” Aaron Judge, aka Captain America, said after the quarterfinal victory.

Skenes did start the U.S.’s best game of the tournament so far, a 5-3 victory over Mexico in which he allowed one hit over four innings. Judge homered. So did the Red Sox’s Roman Anthony. The Americans raced to a 5-0 lead.

That was Monday night.

It’s been a long week.

Since the fifth inning against Mexico, Team USA has been outscored 14-11, including an 8-6 loss to Italy that left them in danger of not advancing. Before that game, DeRosa mistakenly said they had already punched their ticket to the quarterfinals and rested several starters, including Harper and Alex Bregman.

They did advance, but mostly by the grace of Italy’s Aaron Nola-fueled victory over Mexico. (Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and reliever Brad Keller must be sure to say, “Grazie,” when they reunite with Nola in Phillies camp next week.)

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DeRosa, who talks for a living on MLB Network, claimed he misspoke. Nobody thought to correct him. The whole thing reeked of overconfidence.

If only the U.S.’s confidence showed up on the field.

Harper is 3-for-20 with seven strikeouts. Bregman is 2-for-11. Cal Raleigh is 0-for-9 with five strikeouts. Schwarber homered once, but not since the second game of pool play against Great Britain.

Players don’t often look like they’re having fun when they aren’t hitting. Maybe an early run or two against Dominican starter Luis Severino will loosen everyone up.

Nobody is slugging more than the Dominicans, who have 14 — count ’em, 14! — homers through five games. They lead the WBC in celebrations, too, from a blinged-out suit jacket to choreographed handshakes to a dumbbell made of fake plantains.

“It starts with who we are,” said Tatís, who has 11 RBIs in the tournament. “It starts with our culture. The Dominican Republic is what we grow with, how we’ve seen, how we feel, how we dance. It’s all credit to the Dominican Republic and who we are as a person.”

American baseball culture is different. They don’t usually show as much emotion on the field. Everything is more reserved.

Judge says it shouldn’t be mistaken for not having fun.

“It’s exciting to see what the D.R. is doing,” Judge said after the quarterfinals. “It’s been fun watching those games and seeing what’s going on. But I try not to look at what other teams are doing, what other people are doing. I’m focused on what we’ve got here.

“We’ve got a special group of guys that love to play this game. They’re excited to be in this room. I know how they’re all honored to be in this room, and they’re not taking it for granted.”

Harper waited 17 years to play for the country again. He was 16 in 2009 when he represented the U.S. at the Pan Am junior world championships in Venezuela. He never tires of reliving that experience, including the time he snuck out at 2 a.m. in search of empanadas with then-teammate Manny Machado, now the D.R.’s third baseman.

“Got in trouble for that,” Harper said. “But it was one of the best nights, just being able to get out, seeing different cultures, and understanding where people come from, all that kind of stuff. Pretty incredible.

“It was definitely a different environment. A lot of fun.”

There’s that word again.

After a tense week in Houston, Team USA touched down in Miami, where it will encounter the plantain-powered Dominicans and their fans’ ear-splitting chants.

“I think you see the emotion come out of guys in situations like that,” Judge said. “That’s what you live for. That’s what you dream of as a kid in your backyard playing Wiffle ball, getting an opportunity to play in front of some fans like that, an environment like that.”

Said DeRosa: “It’s just going to be a spectacle.”

Maybe it’ll finally bring out the kids in Team USA.