Eight nations remain in the World Baseball Classic, and all teams will travel to the United States for the quarterfinal round on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday’s action begins at Houston’s Daikin Park, where Puerto Rico takes on Italy at 3 p.m. ET.
Puerto Rico — listed as the road team — enters as a -130 favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook, while Italy sits as a +105 underdog.
Puerto Rico marched into the WBC without stars Francisco Lindor or Carlos Correa, but still went 3-1 in Pool A behind lights-out pitching. The team posted a tournament-best 1.22 ERA in the group stage, highlighted by a 5-0 shutout against Colombia. The Puerto Ricans only lost to Canada and claimed the pool’s runner-up spot.
Italy shockingly bulldozed through Pool B, chugging espresso and mashing homers as they stunned the U.S. juggernaut and cruised to a 9-1 rout of Mexico. Powered by Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino — who crushed a WBC-record three homers against Mexico — the Italians trailed only the Dominican Republic for the group stage’s highest team OPS (1.038).
The winner would face either Venezuela or defending champion Japan in Monday’s semifinal in Miami.
