Israel tops Netherlands as both countries close Classic with something to celebrate

MIAMI -- Team Israel got to play "Hava Nagila" one more time at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Israel ended its tournament on a high note by beating the Netherlands, 6-2, at loanDepot park on Tuesday, in what was the final game for both teams.

The Israelis took the lead with a five-run sixth inning, getting a big bases-loaded two-run single from Jake Gelof and a two-run double from Matt Mervis. That big inning brought out the celebratory Jewish folk tune at the stadium.

"We see everything up on the scoreboard -- there are people wearing their Israeli T-shirts or holding the Israeli flag," manager Brad Ausmus said. "The hope is more players become interested in playing for Israel … I just think every time an Israeli team wins a baseball game in a big tournament like this, it helps."

His players felt the same way.

"Playing for Team Israel has always been a dream," said reliever Harrison Cohen, the Yankees' No. 27 prospect, who dominated over two scoreless innings with five strikeouts. "To be able to participate in the WBC, wear 'Israel' across my chest, as not only just a token of where you've gotten to in your career, but as a token of how I was brought up, how I was raised, my parents, my family, my heritage."

Both Israel and the Netherlands had already been eliminated from contention in Pool D by the time they took the field Tuesday. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela are the teams advancing to the quarterfinals.

But Israel at least improved on its performance from the last Classic, finishing at 2-2 with the win over the Netherlands. In 2023, the Israelis had a disappointing 1-3 record.

"You see this on the calendar every couple of years, and you circle it," said Gelof, whose older brother Zack, on the A's, has previously played for Israel at the WBC. "I know my brother and I circled this on our calendar. He was able to play in it, and now I've been able to play with it. We're always looking forward to growing the game anywhere where we play for Team Israel."

And the Netherlands at least got to bring back a legend of the country's World Baseball Classic history.

Pitcher Shairon Martis took the mound for the Netherlands during the second inning, drawing a standing ovation from his teammates in the Netherlands dugout.

Why? The 38-year-old Martis has now pitched for the country in five of the six WBCs. This was his first appearance of the 2026 Classic, and it was a historic one.

Martis tied the record for the most World Baseball Classics played in. Martis, Miguel Cabrera for Venezuela and Alfredo Despaigne for Cuba are the only three players who have appeared in five Classics.

"Today was a perfect day for him to go out there and do what he always did. And I'm so proud of him," Netherlands manager Andruw Jones said. "His career that he's had -- as a young kid, making the Major Leagues, then kept going, never gave up, through the independent leagues, and pitching for the Netherlands now. I'm so proud of him. I'm so happy that he got in there and did what he did."

Martis was fantastic in what could be the final World Baseball Classic game of his storied international career. He pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings against Israel, allowing only one hit with a pair of strikeouts.

"He's a bulldog," Jones said. "He knows how to pitch. Obviously, he doesn't have the stuff that he used to have, you know, 20 years ago. But he's kept himself in shape. He knows how to pitch. He knows how to move his pitches around."

Martis has pitched for the Netherlands in the 2006, 2013, 2017, 2023 and 2026 WBCs. He even threw a seven-inning, run rule-shortened "no-hitter" against Panama in the inaugural 2006 Classic (official no-hitters have to be at least nine innings pitched) -- one of only two no-hit games in World Baseball Classic history.

The Netherlands, once one of the stronger teams at the World Baseball Classic, finished 1-3 at the 2026 Classic and has now been eliminated in pool play in back-to-back tournaments. The country still clinched an automatic invitation to the next World Baseball Classic, as did Israel, by avoiding last place in their pool, which went to Nicaragua.