Good: Team USA ditched their WBC silver medals before they even got back to the dugout

Team USA lost the World Baseball Classic championship game 3-2 to Venezuela on Tuesday night and when Rob Manfred came out to present the silver medals at the ceremony, the Americans took them, walked back toward the dugout, and started taking them off before they even got there.

Kyle Schwarber. Logan Webb. Pete Crow-Armstrong. Bobby Witt Jr. Roman Anthony. Gabe Speier. One after another. Mason Miller set the speed record for medal removal. It was off his neck before he stepped foot outside the batters box.

Mason Miller rightfully wanted nothing to do with that silver medal

Mason Miller wasn’t even outside the batter’s circle before taking off his silver medal.

I get it. pic.twitter.com/OU1oNztJL9

— Alex Freedman (@azfreedman) March 18, 2026

Side Note: I could write paragraphs on why Mark DeRosa is an idiot for not putting Mason Miller in the game in the top of the 9th inning but I digress…

I was honestly shocked that a large segment of the internet found this to be a surprising move from Team USA. Did people think these guys were going to put on their silver medals and go out for a nice dinner in Miami?

No serious athlete in any sport wants a silver medal. A silver medal means you were the second best team in the world on that night and in that sport that is all it means. You lost. There is no celebrating that and there should not be.

Mix in the fact that they had to stand in a line and personally accept the medal from Rob Manfred, of all people, and honestly the reactions could have been a lot worse than what we all witnessed.

Getting a silver medal from Rob Manfred is basically a humiliation ritual

Team USA receives their 2026 World Baseball Classic silver medals 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/zasRMWVCDI

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 18, 2026

Kyle Schwarber took his silver medal off before he even made it to the dugout pic.twitter.com/avVq1u600k

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 18, 2026

Bryce Harper tied the game for Team USA with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. Then Garrett Whitlock gave the lead right back in the top of the ninth.

It’s a shame that Bryce Harper’s game-tying 2-run home run will be one of the greatest, most forgotten moments in baseball history >>

Eugenio Suárez doubled. Venezuela scored the go-ahead run. Daniel Palencia retired the side in order. Game over. Tournament over. Silver medal. That sequence of events does not produce a group of guys who want to wear hardware around their necks for photos.

Venezuela wins the World Baseball Classic and it was impossible not to feel every second of it >>

This is the second straight World Baseball Classic where Team USA finished as runner-up. In six total tournaments they have won once, in 2017. That is the actual conversation worth having. Not whether Kyle Schwarber should have kept his silver medal on for the cameras.

The Canadian hockey team threw their stuffed animals after losing the Olympic gold medal game. Athletes hate losing. This is not news. Those Team USA silver medals would be lucky to make the trip back to Spring Training and everyone knows it.

Miserable ending to an otherwise fantastic tournament.

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