Italy defeated the United States 8-6 on Tuesday in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, sealing its third qualification for the quarter-finals after also reaching them in 2013 and 2023. The result had immediate impact because of the opponent, because of the group context and because the Italian team once again competed without any sense of inferiority on a global stage.

The sporting surprise also makes it possible to look a little further. Italy is not a historic power in world baseball, nor a country where the sport carries the cultural weight of other disciplines, but it is a national team that has been steadily consolidating a structure, an identity and a level of competitiveness that are becoming increasingly visible. Manager Francisco Cervelli captured the moment in a clear line: “I still don’t know how to process this. I’m having crazy emotions right now. Now there is another country that can play baseball in Europe.”

“I want to change the culture. And last year (at the European Championship, where we finished as runners-up), we gave it the label of ‘The Italian way’. It’s not only about taking part, but also about creating an identity so that every time we arrive, people know we play baseball with respect for others,” Cervelli added in recent days. That message has also reached the clubhouse. Vinnie Pasquantino, one of the team’s main figures, explained during the tournament that Cervelli and federation president Marco Mazzieri are trying to show young people in Italy that competing at this level is possible.

A domestic base and Baseball5

Part of Italy’s recent competitive rise can be explained by the eligibility rules of the World Baseball Classic, which allow the country to bring together players of Italian heritage born outside the country. That model has helped raise the level of the roster and bring in talent with experience or a track record within the MLB environment. But the Italian case does not stand only on that. Behind it there is also a stable federation structure and a domestic competition, even if its scale is far more modest than the American one.

There is also an internal base that gives continuity to that broader message. Italy’s Serie A, heir to the former Italian Baseball League, has existed since 1948 and remains the top national division. The championship featured 30 teams in 2023 and 31 in 2025, split across several groups within a structure designed to maintain a competitive fabric beyond the international spotlight. Added to that continuity is the launch of the first Baseball5 National Championship, a sign of diversification within the Italian baseball ecosystem itself.

American soldiers brought baseball after the Second World War

Baseball failed to establish itself in Italy during its earliest attempts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it found a real foothold after the Second World War, when American soldiers brought the game to different parts of the country. From there, a structure took shape that allowed for the creation of the league in 1948 and the later development of the federation. On the continental level, Italy was also one of the five countries that founded the European organisation in 1953 and won the first European Championship in 1954.

That European background does not make Italy a global benchmark in the sport, but it does explain why its presence in baseball is not something new. The national team has won 10 European Championships, second only to the Netherlands, and at the 2013 World Baseball Classic it had already produced a notable run by advancing from the group alongside the United States and finishing seventh.