Suffice it to say, New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns is not a fan of the way the Dominican Republic bowed out of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
It appeared that the Dominican Republic had been betrayed by the home plate umpire, who proceeded to call two questionable third strikes on Juan Soto and Geraldo Perdomo – with Perdomo's last at-bat of the game – giving Team USA a 2–1 victory, who are now advancing to the WBC Finals.
After the game, the Knicks star, who has represented the Dominican Republic in FIBA competition, expressed his disagreement with the way his home country was eliminated from the WBC in animated fashion.
"Oh yeah, that was a ball, man! That was some bullshit. They should have got a chance. They had Tatis Jr. coming in. Come on, man," Towns told reporters via Knicks video on SNY on X (formerly Twitter).
Pitch data on MLB GameDay says it all. ClutchPoints lead MLB reporter Joey Mistretta took note of this by showing how far below the strike zone the strike three call against Perdomo was.
I'm glad Team USA got the win, but this is a terrible way to end the game pic.twitter.com/YNDI8ITHCc
- Joey Mistretta (@JoeyMistretta_) 16 March 2026
It's hard for a neutral observer to say that the Knicks star's thoughts about what happened to the Dominican Republic in the semifinals of the 2026 World Baseball Classic aren't justified.
Dominican Republic's stacked lineup shut out by Team USA
While the questionable strike three call will be the lasting legacy of this semifinal encounter, the Dominican Republic had a few other opportunities to put runs on the board against Team USA, but were not able to do so. Team USA deserves credit for shutting down a stacked DR lineup and holding them to just one run.
However, it certainly would have been exciting if Perdomo had reached base and Tatis had a chance to tie or win the game. The top of the DR lineup was coming up, and the home plate umpire took that opportunity away from them.
