World Baseball Classic Final 2017: Team USA stomps on Puerto Rico at Dodger Stadium

In the World Baseball Classic Final 2017, Team USA didn’t hold back.

Team USA didn’t shy away from the spotlight this year, winning their first World Baseball Classic ever. Against them was Puerto Rico, a team which was supposed to give them a run for their money.

Instead, the United States dominated in shutout fashion, winning 8-0.

Pitcher Marcus Stroman was the star of the show. On the mound for Team USA, he kept a shutout going into the seventh inning.

Behind Stroman’s strong game, Team USA had thirteen hits that helped get them their eight runs and keep Puerto Rico running.

A report from CBS Sports highlighted just how big the win was.

Per the report:

"Previously, Team USA’s best finish had been third place during the 2009 tournament. Early on in this WBC, it looked like the Americans were en route to another disappointing showing — lest we forget that Colombia’s Jose Quintana carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the United States in their first game.Yet the United States won that game, and later earned an advancement to the second round with a 2-1 record. The US would post the same record in the second round, then would top Japan in the semifinal to earn a crack at the championship — everyone knows what happened there. But let’s dig in a little deeper."

Avoiding that disappointment on the international stage was big for American baseball. It gave players that chose to represent the U.S. all the more reason to have confidence in their overall game.

Now that we know that the United States can do this, it could help the players on the team translate that to regular season success.

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The win happened in Los Angeles in front of more than 50,000 fans of the game at Dodger Stadium.