MESA, Ariz. — The gold medal glinted around Daniel Palencia’s neck when he walked through the Chicago Cubs clubhouse Friday afternoon.
A smile just as bright as the hardware Palencia earned, still fully soaking in winning the World Baseball Classic with Venezuela. Palencia was electric in the tournament and nearly unhittable en route to recording saves in the semifinal win over Japan and, pitching for the third time in four days, in the championship game against the USA.
When Palencia saw Roman Anthony whiff at his splitter to put the U.S. left fielder in a two-strike count, he started to cry on the mound. He could tell Anthony was lost at how Palencia was attacking him.
“I knew that moment was mine,” Palencia said Friday. “I knew I could do it. I knew he’s going to swing and miss. I just knew it. In those moments you have to be romantic with baseball.”
Three days later, Palencia — wearing his Venezuela hat and a WBC championship T-shirt while his country’s jersey hung in his locker behind him — was still digesting winning the tournament. Palencia, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and third baseman Alex Bregman rejoined the Cubs on Friday; Crow-Armstrong and Bregman — who played for Team USA — were right back in the lineup, starting the home game against the Cincinnati Reds.
Palencia appreciated the Cubs giving Venezuela manager Omar López permission to use him in the final if it was a save situation.
“I just don’t believe it,” Palencia said. “We worked hard for it. Credit to all the players who put effort there. I’m just happy for me and my country. … Everybody was together, everybody in my town — I think all of Venezuela was watching us, and for us making it possible.”
After Bryce Harper hit the game-tying home run in the bottom of the eighth, Palencia remembers praying in the bullpen hoping his team would score a run the next inning so he would get a chance for a save. Everything played out like in his dreams.
“I’m going to do this, and we’re going to be the champions,” Palencia said. “I saw all that, that moment the day before when I was sleeping. So it was exactly what I thought. I had no words to describe that.”
The emotions Palencia and his teammates experienced were born out of deep appreciation for their home country and everything Venezuela has gone through during the last few months amid the economic and political fallout from former President Nicolás Maduro’s government and his capture by the U.S. Palencia said he’s still watching videos of Venezuelans reveling in their WBC title. People from his hometown of San Carlos even went to his childhood home to celebrate the championship.
As for what he plans to do with his gold medal, Palencia smiled, “I’m going to sleep with it.”
Palencia’s Cubs teammate, Pete Crow-Armstrong, experienced the other side of the emotional letdown of not accomplishing Team USA’s goal at the start of the tournament. Crow-Armstrong loved representing his country and said he would play again in the WBC, or the Olympics in 2028 if major-league players are allowed, should he be asked to participate.
“That was some of the more fun baseball I’ve ever been a part of,” Crow-Armstrong said Friday. “I really enjoyed playing in front of the different crowds. I think American fans can kind of take something from the joy and the passion, just the energy that’s kind of output by these other fan bases. It’s a really fun game, and I think they kind of add to the excitement. But that’s something I would do 10 times out of 10 when asked. It was a bummer we came up short.”
One of the great parts of the WBC is big-league teammates playing against each other. Moments after Crow-Armstrong acknowledged the disappointment of losing the title game, regardless of watching his teammate close it out, Palencia, still grinning and wearing his gold medal, walked by the media scrum and pointed to Crow-Armstrong.
“What timing is that,” Crow-Armstrong said with a big smile and laugh, jokingly flipping off Palencia. “He pitched out of his mind. He was great.”
