Venezuela's baseball team is officially the world champion.
"I wonder if [Donald] Trump will invite the Venezuelan team to the White House to meet their President," someone called The Censored Rock posted on X on Tuesday night.
Shawn Farash wrote, "Kidnap the new Venezuelan president. This aggression cannot stand."
While there were a lot of jokes about Trump running Venezuela and the dynamic between him and Delcy Rodríguez on social media after the Venezuelan team beat Team USA in the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, those lines cracked me up the most.
But what really got to me were the more heartfelt posts and videos. For the Venezuelan people, and even the players, that game wasn't just your average sporting event. Many saw if as something much bigger, spiritual even: a sign from above that the curse of their nation is finally broken.
Related: Red, White, and… Venezuela: WBC Final Brings More Than Just Baseball
I wrote a little bit about this on Tuesday afternoon, but many of us were kind of pulling for both teams. While media outlets like CNN and ESPN tried to make it sound like it was some sort of tense rivalry between nations at odds, the reality for actual fans was that it was more like a friendly neighborhood game.
Plus, Venezuela is a big source of Major League Baseball players, and much of its roster was made up of MLB-affiliated athletes, so it was hard not to cheer on your favorite players no matter which side they were on.
While I was 100% Team USA, I can't help but love this. It's Venezuela's year in every way. https://t.co/0DM6Ct79dJ
— SarahDownSouth (@SarahDownSouth) March 18, 2026
The postgame mood, both on the field and on social media, was palpable when Venezuela pulled off the 3 to 2 win. Tears flowed. Prayers and thank yous were sent up. Reporters and broadcasters' voices cracked. The looks on the faces of the players told you that it was about more than just baseball.
Many of these guys are in their twenties and thirties. They've never really known a Venezuelan that didn't live under tyranny. While many of them in live in the United States and elsewhere now, they still remember what it was like to grow up there. They still have family and friends there who suffer. The lack the pride that everyone should get to have in their homeland. When we captured Maduro on January 3, for the first time in their lives, they had hope. This win amplified that.
I interact with Venezuelan people almost daily, and I can tell you that hope is cautious but extremely optimistic. It can make grown men babble like toddlers and tremble with something they haven't felt in years. But when that game ended last night, it grew 100 times bigger.
I think I'm going to stop here and share some video from the night and words from some of my favorite Venezuelan writers and journalists, as it sounds much more sincere coming from them.
Venezuela carries baseball in its ethos. It’s been there for decades. There’s no greater source of national sporting pride than what we’ve achieved in baseball. No sport marks the national idiosyncrasy and family dynamics more deeply. It accompanies the upbringing and growth of every Venezuelan. A force in our own way. So much so that we’ve filled the United States with great baseball players.
But we’d never gone this far. For one reason or another, we weren’t world champions.
We made it to the Baseball World Cup final, we beat Japan, and today we’ve just crowned ourselves world champions, after prevailing over the powerhouse of baseball.
Forgive me for bringing politics into it, but: Chavismo is a curse, it was a burden that kept us from prospering. But things are changing.
Did the curse break? I think it did. I think that in this 2026 we can start to be happy.
Curiously, a sports achievement is the confirmation that a truly dismal and tragic cycle in our history, brought about by Chavismo, has come to an end, and that the transition we have begun has not been merely political—it is also spiritual, energetic, and mental.
Something bigger changed.
Agustín Antonetti isn't Venezuelan — he's from Argentina — but he made a similar point:
Maduro in prison and Venezuela world champion in less than three months.
2026 arrived and said, let's give the Venezuelans all the joys together that we took from them in these years. Unbelievable.
Here's Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader María Corina Machado celebrating the win:
🇻🇪La celebración de Maria Corina a la victoria de equipo venezolano en el Clásico Mundial de Béisbol pic.twitter.com/gjROcwwRJr
— Javi🇨🇺 (@JaviXCubaLibre) March 18, 2026
And here's Venezuela's Eugenio Suarez with one of the most passionate postgame interviews I've ever heard.
"It's amazing. God is good. All the glory is for the lord. Jesus, he was with us the whole time. We have to glorify for his name in front of everything," he said. "And body believed in Venezuela, but now we win the championship today. And this is a celebration for all of the Venezuelan country."
This is an incredible interview by Eugenio Suarez.
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) March 18, 2026
His passion, his pride for his country, how much it means to Venezuela
Baseball is the best pic.twitter.com/KpfLuWGYH2
The players also prayed together in the locker room:
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) March 18, 2026
Here's Ronald Acuña Jr. realizing Venezuela won:
Ronald Acuña Jr.: “This is No. 1 for me in my career. I love Atlanta a lot, but before I played in Atlanta, I was born in Venezuela. Venezuela made Ronald Acuña Jr.”
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) March 17, 2026
I can’t say I blame him. Winning for your country that’s never won anything must be one of the greatest feelings… pic.twitter.com/4IMbhcE0od
Back home in Venezuela, the country celebrated in the streets as well.
🚨 | Altamira, Caracas, en este momento celebrando que Venezuela es campeona del mundo en béisbol. pic.twitter.com/zC0Viqmrad
— Orlando Avendaño (@OrlvndoA) March 18, 2026
Las celebraciones en Venezuela tras su triunfo en el mundial de béisbol:
— Informe Orwell (@InformeOrwell) March 18, 2026
pic.twitter.com/OcOQUTkFfm
The mood in that country is changing slowly but surely, and it's wonderful to see. But how did the man who made it happen celebrate the game? With one simple word, which he posted on social media:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 18, 2026
I think if Trump had his way, he'd lead leave his second term with at least five states on the map. The way things are going, I wouldn't be shocked if he makes it happen.
