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Orioles Star Calls Out Team USA for 'Crazy' Gunnar Henderson WBC Benching

One Baltimore Orioles standout does not agree with how Team USA handled Gunnar Henderson in the World Baseball Classic.
Grant Young|
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

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Team USA lost to Venezuela by a score of 3-2 in the 2026 World Baseball Classic championship game on March 17. This marks the second straight WBC where the United States squad has lost 3-2 in the final, as they suffered the same fate against Team Japan in the 2023 WBC.

The silver lining for Baltimore Orioles fans is that their star shortstop, Gunnar Henderson, has reached a new level of stardom for his success in this year's WBC. He was Team USA's best hitter, as shown by his .400 average being the highest out of anybody on the team, and his 2 home runs being tied for the lead in the tournament.

Henderson went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs during his team's pool play win against Great Britain, and he also hit a crucial solo home run against the Dominican Republic in the semifinal game.

The problem is that Henderson was not a full-time starter. Because Bobby Witt Jr. was Team USA's starting shortstop, Henderson only received occasional starts at third base, playing in tandem with Alex Bregman.

This frustrated many fans, given that Henderson was much more impactful than Bregman was throughout the tournament. And it was especially frustrating when Bregman got the start over Henderson in the championship game on Tuesday night.

Bregman went 0 for 3 in the game. Henderson pinch-hit for him in the ninth inning and popped out, and the USA's loss was finalized one out later.

United States third baseman Gunnar Henderson (11)
United States third baseman Gunnar Henderson (11) | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Tyler O'Neill Gets Blunt About Gunnar Henderson Not Starting in WBC Final

Henderson was not the Orioles' only representative in this year's WBC, as his teammate Tyler O'Neill was a key player for Team Canada.

O'Neill spoke with the media on March 18 and didn't mince words when it came to Henderson not starting for Team USA last night.

"Tyler O’Neill recognizes that Team USA’s roster was 'stacked' and he didn’t want to question their lineups, but he said it was 'kind of crazy' seeing Gunnar Henderson on the bench in the WBC.

“'His skill speaks for itself. He should be starting on any team,'" O'Neill said, per an X post from Jacob Calvin Meyer of The Baltimore Sun.

O'Neill is not only speaking for Orioles fans, but just about every other MLB team's fan base with this sentiment, especially considering how he outperformed Bregman throughout the tournament.

Surely nobody is more frustrated about this than Henderson, even though he may never admit to it publicly.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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