With another Team USA versus Team Canada matchup slated in major sports, Jack Hughes felt it was the perfect time to offer some encouragement.
Team USA remained alive in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) thanks to Italy’s dominant win over Mexico on Wednesday night to finish undefeated in Pool B play in Houston, Texas.
After breathing a sigh of relief, the U.S. looked at the schedule and saw a familiar opponent in terms of national competition – Canada and their Pool A-winning squad that went 3-1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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So, as they prepare for the rivalry matchup on Friday night at Daikin Park, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa revealed that Hughes reached out to the baseball players.
“Jack Hughes sent the boys a nice little fire-up message that I put out on their group chat,” DeRosa said during a Thursday press conference ahead of the game.
DeRosa was asked if he was watching the men’s and women’s ice hockey games against Canada in the gold-medal games over in Milan, where Hughes provided the overtime game-winner just days after Megyn Keller did the same for the American women.
“I know there are some talks about some hockey jerseys being sent in tomorrow for the guys to wear during BP or out and about in the clubhouse,” DeRosa added. “So yeah, fairly aware of the gold medal run there.”
The 24-year-old Hughes may be back with his New Jersey Devils, but he’s still riding high from his golden goal. And Team USA captain Aaron Judge even said Hughes’ and Keller’s goals were momentum drivers for his squad.
“Boys were fired up,” he said on “The Pat McAfee Show” before the start of the WBC when asked his thoughts on Hughes’ goal in particular. “Hughes, man, we sent so many pictures of Hughes in the group text. It was great.
“It’s kinda cool that it’s going to snowball into this. Just the excitement we had when I was with the Yankees, and then with the group text, the boys were pumped up. Now, it’s WBC, we get the chance to throw on the red, white, and blue and copy what they did.”
Judge added that it was a “special run” both the men and women had.
Now, Team USA is hoping to have the same result against Team Canada, which has enjoyed early success in the WBC. While they haven’t been hitting the long ball like other teams in the quarterfinals, outfielder Owen Caissie and third baseman Abraham Toro are batting at least .460, and they’ve both driven home five runs. The Naylor brothers, Josh and Bo, have also had a good tournament.
But it’s been pitching that has set the tone for Team Canada, which owns a 1.50 ERA as a team – the second-best mark in the tournament, only behind Puerto Rico.
It will be Logan Webb for the U.S. against Mike Soroka for Canada on the mound to start Friday night’s quarterfinal at 8 p.m. ET. The winner of the matchup will head to Miami and loanDepot park for the semifinals.
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