It’s USA vs. Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic final. The Maduro raid and decades of tension simmer under the surface

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — Team USA and Venezuela are set to meet Tuesday night in the final of the World Baseball Classic, a fitting showdown between two of the top teams on the field from nations that have a long and tense history off it.

Venezuela booked its trip to the final with a semifinal win over Team Italy on Monday, while the USA defeated the Dominican Republic in the tournament’s other semifinal on Sunday, resulting in a third straight trip to the WBC final for the Americans.

On the diamond, it’s a sumptuous pairing. Team USA is chock full of stars who have been extremely serious (some might say too serious) in its pursuit of avenging a loss in the tournament’s 2023 championship game. Venezuela, also star-laden, has been oozing aura throughout its time in the WBC and provided some electric moments in wins over Japan, Italy and a close loss to its Dominican Republic rival earlier in the tournament.

But the final will also carry greater significance for all that’s happened between the two nations in recent – and not-so-recent – history. The two countries have been intertwined over the last year or so, even more intensely since the US military’s raid on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s compound that led to the longtime strongman being captured and taken away to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Here’s what you need to know about why Tuesday’s WBC final (8 p.m. ET on Fox) is so intriguing.

Off the field: Trump’s focus on Venezuela and the Maduro raid

Suffice to say that the relationship between the United States and Venezuela has been complicated, even adversarial, for decades.

From the beginning of Hugo Chávez’s tenure in 2007 to the capture of Maduro in January, the oil-rich Venezuelan government was constantly at odds with Washington. The tension ramped up beginning in the middle of 2024, when the Biden administration tightened sanctions on the Venezuelan government and forced Caracas to rely more heavily on China, Russia, India, Turkey and other trading partners.

But it was the return of Donald Trump to the presidency that sent a simmering situation to a boil.

After returning to the White House, Trump said he did not consider Maduro to be a democratically elected ruler. He also announced a policy of mass deportations, arguing that many migrants arriving in the US – including Venezuelans – bring crime and other ills with them, and he designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.

In March 2025, tensions between the two governments escalated when the US deported more than 200 Venezuelan migrants, labeling them criminals, to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador.

Later on in the year, the US Treasury Department accused Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged criminal organization that, according to Washington, engages in drug trafficking and money laundering. In August, the US also raised to $50 million a reward for “information leading to the arrest and/or conviction” of Maduro for violating US narcotics laws. The Venezuelan president has denied any wrongdoing.

By September, despite some attempts at rapprochement and calls for dialogue, tensions escalated again. The US deployed military ships and aircraft to the Caribbean, ostensibly to combat drug trafficking, and began a series of attacks on boats it claimed were attempting to smuggle drugs into its territory. Those attacks have continued ever since.

In December, Trump ordered a “total blockade” of US-sanctioned oil tankers, and the Coast Guard began intercepting vessels leaving from or arriving at the Venezuelan coast.

Trump, who had already authorized CIA operations inside Venezuela, said on December 12 that military ground actions in the country would start soon because, he asserted, Washington will not allow drug traffickers to destroy American youth.

And then in January came the raid by US forces on Maduro’s compound in Caracas in which Maduro was captured and taken away to New York to face drug trafficking charges that he denies. Trump has since sought to exert his influence over the country and acting President Delcy Rodríguez. Since then, Maduro has been held in a New York City jail and is facing life in prison on various serious charges.

On the field: A story of two extremely talented rosters

Between the white lines, this is like watching two superteams go at it.

Team USA, despite a near catastrophic exit in pool play, has been one of the favorites in this tournament long before the first pitch was thrown. Led by captain Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, its vaunted lineup has sluggers like Bryce Harper, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman and Bobby Witt Jr. Any of those players has enough talent to completely turn a game on its head and dominate with a few swings of the bat.

All of them in the same lineup? It’s just treacherous.

But the real star of the US team so far in this tournament has been its pitching staff, and particularly its bullpen. Opposing teams are hitting just .194 against them and they’re allowing less than one baserunner per inning with a team ERA of 3.00. With the exception of the game against Italy when the Europeans’ bats were sending seemingly everything over the fence in the early innings, the Americans have racked up the most strikeouts in the tournament and surrendered the fewest walks.

It’ll be interesting to see how starter Nolan McLean rebounds in the final from his last outing against Italy. He got rocked and didn’t make it through the third inning as the US eventually suffered its lone defeat, 8-6.

That combination of explosive bats and power arms allowed the US to defeat the high-powered Dominican Republic in the semifinal. Ace Paul Skenes allowed a home run early in the contest and that was it for the DR’s scoring. Two solo shots from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony were all that was needed to secure the win.

In the other dugout, the Venezuelans are absolutely electric – both in their athleticism on the field and the energy they bring to the game.

Ronald Acuña Jr. leads off and is one of the game’s best players when he’s healthy, and it certainly appears like he’s not carrying any knocks. He took Los Angeles Dodgers and Japan star Yoshinobu Yamamoto deep to lead off the quarterfinal game on Saturday and appears like he’s back to his MVP-caliber self.

And he might not even be the most feared hitter in the Venezuelan lineup right now. Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel García leads the tournament in hits, Luis Arráez is somehow once again adding home runs to his usual high batting average in the WBC. As a team, Venezuela has the fourth-best batting average in this year’s tournament.

The Venezuelan pitching staff is no slouch either. Opposing teams are hitting .215 and Venezuela’s pitchers are allowing an average of 1.09 baserunners per inning.

How are Venezuelans feeling at the WBC?

The WBC has largely been a party for Venezuelan expats who have been attending games in Miami, where all the team’s contests have been played.

The message: Hope and homesickness.

CNN Sports’ Hannah Keyser attended the country’s first two games of the WBC and spoke with fans about what this tournament means to them and how they’re feeling about Venezuela’s future after a historic start to 2026.

All of the Venezuelan fans who Hannah spoke to in Miami were happy to have Maduro out, but they wavered on what it meant for the future of the country.

“That was a great day,” said Francisco Zambrano of the day Maduro was captured, which was also his birthday, “so that was a great gift.”

Juan Sánchez, who has been living in the States for 20 years, 15 of which in Miami, was at work when the news broke.

“I was in the middle of my shift, and I just go home and celebrate. Been waiting for this more than 20 years, and now it happens,” he said. “I have to go home and celebrate with my family. It was exciting. It was very exciting.”

“We always be having hope that one day it’s going to happen,” Andrés Pacheco told Hannah. His face was painted yellow, blue, and red with white stars across the bridge of his nose like the Venezuelan flag. “And finally, they did something. We don’t know what’s going to happen later. But it’s something.”

“Being together, sharing our culture in the stadium here, and I feel very excited because we feel like we are in Venezuela again,” said Ángela Ramírez, who told Hannah she traveled from Orlando with her husband and their friends for the game. They have lived in the US for nearly a decade.

It’s a complicated situation for the team – no one from Team Venezuela wanted to talk much about the political situation at home – but for the fans in the stands, the trip to the final gives them one more opportunity to celebrate their country and hope for a brighter future.

CNN’s Mauricio Torres, Gonzalo Zegarra, Germán Padinger and Jhasua Razo contributed to this report.

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