Daniel Palencia blew a 99.7 mph fastball past Team USA's Roman Anthony and chucked his glove to the skies. He had just secured Venezuela's first World Baseball Classic title, bookending a dominant run as his country's closer in the 2026 WBC.
After Venezuela took the lead in the ninth inning of Tuesday night's WBC title game courtesy of Eugenio Suárez's go-ahead RBI double, Palencia entered with a chance to bring WBC glory to his home country for the first time. Palencia flung a 98.5 mph heater past Kyle Schwarber for the first out. After a Gunnar Henderson popout, Palencia punched out Anthony, sending the Venezuelan team -- and the large contingent of Venezuelan faithful at Miami's loanDepot park -- into a frenzy.
Palencia, the flamethrowing reliever for the Cubs who grew up in San Carlos, Venezuela, was nothing short of incredible in this year's WBC. In five appearances, the 26-year-old did not allow a hit across five scoreless innings and struck out nine of the 17 hitters he faced. Only two runners reached base via a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
In Saturday's quarterfinals, Palencia recorded the first of his three saves in Venezuela's dramatic comeback win against Japan. Two nights later, he had a clean ninth inning against Italy, sending Venezuela to its first World Baseball Classic appearance. Just 24 hours later, Palencia was back on the mound for Venezuela, putting the final touches on the country's epic win against the United States and a memorable run to the title.
There was no shortage of Venezuelan players displaying heroics, whether it was WBC tournament MVP Maikel Garcia, Wilyer Abreu and his dramatic home runs, Suárez's big-time hits or Eduardo Rodriguez's key WBC title start. But don't forget about Palencia, who was as dominant as one can be at the back end of games for Venezuela.