WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - CANADA VS CUBA

March 11, 2026

German Mesa

Hiram Bithorn Stadium

Team Cuba

Postgame Press Conference

Canada 7, Cuba 2

Q. If you could tell us how was this game lost in your personal opinion? It's the first time that Cuba doesn't qualify for the next round in the World Baseball Classic.

GERMAN MESA: My personal position, it's the first time we don't go to the second round, and you all already know the work that it took us to come here. We did work, but with the way we played today, it's hard to win a ballgame.

Q. Going down that same line, since you don't classify for the first time in history to the second round, do you think this is a turning point or a precedent for Cuban baseball to reevaluate its baseball face in the future?

GERMAN MESA: Yes, we need to evaluate this. This serves as an experience for the next events, for the next Classic, for example. Where did we come up short? Where were we lacking? And we need to keep on working on this.

Q. German, there were changes in defense. A lot of people think that the defense was sacrificed for the offense. Do you think that this had an effect in the final result?

GERMAN MESA: The changes that were made to the defense, if we look at the ballgame, well, everybody who knows about baseball knows the errors that happen and explainable errors, but that's part of baseball. We sacrificed the defense for offense because the team was producing few runs.

These are things that happen in baseball. You get experience from everything that happens.

Q. In addition to being the manager of this team, you're also the vice president of the Cuban Baseball Federation. In your opinion, what does Cuban baseball have to do to advance to take a step and get ahead of everything that's happened in the last 10, 15 years?

GERMAN MESA: We have to keep on working. We need to keep on working with time, on the things and the deficiencies that we've been having in these last few events. Most of all, in the selection of the players, we need to focus a little bit more on that.

And I repeat, we are working to reach the final objective.

Q. First time that Cuba didn't qualify beyond the first round. Does this mean that it's a time for a radical change in the system of Cuban baseball from within?

GERMAN MESA: Well, look, no change is radical. You need to change things little by little, the things that you need to change. Whatever has to be changed will be changed, and that's what the games are for.

This is an experience. It gives us a possibility of announcing whether we have to improve or we have to change. As I said, we're going to work in that direction.

Q. A message to the people of Cuba to all of the people who like Cuban baseball, that follow Cuban baseball, the first group stage elimination in World Baseball Classic history?

GERMAN MESA: I always gave and I give a positive message to Cuba, to the people of Cuba that were watching these games. These are things that happen in baseball. Sometimes you have to come with the two suitcases of winning one and losing one. This time we lost.

We also have a huge amount of analysis that we have to do. We have to analyze things for future events to reverse this defeat.

Q. I'm leaving with a very negative feeling for Cuba, but I'm leaving with a positive note that before the game I was saying that the face and the respect that baseball had lost is returning the in first two games, but we lost the next two against the favorite of this group to classify, which are Puerto Rico and Canada. For many of us are here, that's the way we see it. With this defeat, we have this bad taste. Everybody talks about when you win, but not everybody can talk when you lose. What do you have to say to the public that has followed and may not be following, especially with this Cuban team?

GERMAN MESA: Well, you were saying it. We weren't coming as in favorites. No one would bet a buck on us. But we did put up a fight with the team that we have. With the team that we have, we did everything possible. We did everything possible to get there. We were not the favorites. We lost to the two favorites. This game did not leave me satisfied at all because this was a game that had we played the way we should have, we could have advanced a little bit better. It could have been a tighter game.

Again, errors are a part of baseball, and you can't criticize anyone, but what I am taking is a good experience of everything that has happened -- management, the drafting of the team. You learn from your defeat. Victories don't teach you much. As I said before, we're going to work. We're going to keep on working.

Q. As to the change, the changes that happened today, one of the most complicated days that Andrys Perez had as a catcher. What do you think of his performance? Was it risky to bring him in for the last game over a catcher that had more rhythm? What did you say to the players after the defeat in the dugout?

GERMAN MESA: Andrys Perez is used to this kind of competition. He's been in other events like this, and he's done it well. Right now we came from getting ready, where he had done excellently, and we gave him a chance, also thinking about his offense and his defense.

We saw that he wasn't producing. We saw we needed to make a change. We decided to be brave and take a risk. When you make decisions, you can come out right and come out wrong, but that's what happens. He had a bad day, as anybody could have, any other player.

As I said, it's part of baseball. That happens.

Q. And what you said to the players?

GERMAN MESA: The first thing is I thanked the players for being with us, for being with us through this trajectory, and that's part of the game. We did not meet the expectation, but we have to keep on working on that. We're going to keep on seeing each other and improving on things that we had. What am I going to say?

Most of all, I thanked them for sharing this moment with us.