Throughout the 2026 World Baseball Classic, you’d be hard pressed to find a team having more fun than Italy. A band of 29 ballplayers with family ties to the motherland has gone on a run to the semifinals no one saw coming and has captivated the world with its home run hitting, espresso chugging and overall passion for the tournament.
Francisco Cervelli, Team Italy’s manager, is the man at the center of it all. The 13-year MLB catcher was born to an Italian father and Venezuelan mother but always played in the WBC for the former. He moved to Italy last year and is managing the Azzurri for the first time, pushing all the right buttons and tugging on all the right emotional heartstrings in his maiden stint as a skipper.
Monday may be a challenge unlike any Cervelli has faced in his baseball career. With Italy meeting Venezuela in Miami, the crowd is sure to be behind the latter. But with the chance to play for a WBC crown against the United States in Tuesday’s final, there is absolutely no question where Cervelli’s allegiance lies.
“I’m Italian,” Cervelli said in Spanish on Saturday. “There’s no other way. This is my job, and this is the shirt I wear. It’s a huge opportunity. When they say, ‘play ball,’ I’ll forget everything and just play ball.”
Who is Francisco Cervelli? And how has he guided Italy to its most successful run in the World Baseball Classic?
Francisco Cervelli’s MLB Career
Cervelli was a 13-year big leaguer, first with the New York Yankees and then with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins. For his career, he batted .268 with 41 home runs, 275 RBIs and a .740 OPS. Cervelli won a World Series with the Yankees in 2009 where he backed up Jorge Posada, now a member of Team Italy’s coaching staff.
Another aspect of those Yankees teams Cervelli the manager has passed on to his Azzurri players? How to dress with professional style. He said he learned from Yankees manager Joe Torre to respect the game by looking his best each day at the ballpark, and Team Italy has adopted that serious, yet passionate tone during its WBC run.
“He taught me so much: how to be elegant, respectful and be a Yankee. So that’s what I’m trying to do here in Italy,” Cervelli said after the team finished 4-0 in pool play.
“Italy, it’s culture, it’s elegance, it’s art. So my guys, they dress well every day. They respect this. This is the highest level in the world. So why not create a tradition of, like, a Joe Torre tradition, that is respect this game and be a professional inside and outside the field.”
Team Italy’s Espresso-Inspired Home Run Celebration
On the field, however, Cervelli’s guys play loud and loose, thanks in large part to the abundant amounts of caffeine they’ve been consuming.
With the blessing of its manager, Team Italy has developed a home run celebration that involves donning an Armani jacket and slamming an espresso shot in the dugout. With 12 home runs in their five games at the WBC, the squad’s espresso machine has been put to good use.
“Coffee is a way of living, it’s not just a drink, stay thirsty my friends,” Cervelli said while making himself an espresso shot before Italy’s first pool play game against Brazil, which it won 8-0. Dante Nori, a minor league outfielder in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, hit home runs in back-to-back innings, and Seattle Mariners outfielder Dominic Canzone added a dinger of his own.
But Italy is not just running on the long ball and espresso. The Azzurri have been one of the most complete teams in the tournament, as they have not made an error and have gotten terrific pitching from the likes of Aaron Nola (who will start against Venezuela), Michael Lorenzen and closer Greg Weissert. Their style is not all that different from the defensive-minded Italian national soccer team, although baseball may soon give the sport a run for its money in the national consciousness.
Team Italy has captured the attention of the world for the last two weeks. Cervelli hopes his squad can take down two more international Goliaths and be remembered forever.
Who Is Francisco Cervelli? Meet Italy’s Espresso-Loving Manager