AMNA NAWAZ: The United States takes on Venezuela tonight in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic.

That's a kind of World Cup for the sport.

The matchup caps two weeks of international play that had everything, nail-biters, comebacks, controversial calls, a Cinderella story, and heartbreak for fans in Japan and the Dominican Republic.

Tonight's game pits top American players against a potent Venezuela team playing in a WBC final for the first time in their country's history.

And we should say there are players for Major League Baseball teams on both sides here, as has been true throughout the tournament.

So, to break it all down, we are joined again by Howard Bryant, journalist and author of multiple books including most recently "Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America."

Howard, welcome back to the "News Hour."

HOWARD BRYANT, Sports Journalist: No, thanks for having me back.

AMNA NAWAZ: OK, so let's talk about the path that both these teams took to get to the championship game.

The U.S., we should say, was a favorite from the start, right?

The roster has 17 All-Stars, four MVPs, two Cy Young winners, but they almost didn't make it to the final.

What happened?

HOWARD BRYANT: Pretty star-studded team.

Well, I think one of the things that is that, when you're considered to be the favorite - - and this isn't really their tournament, even though the United States hosts it.

A lot of those players view the World Series as sort of what they play for.

They're professional players.

It's not like the international community, where that really -- this really is their World Series, and it took them a little bit to get into it.

They lost the game.

They went 5-1 and lost to Italy in a huge upset.

They had a great game against Canada, had a very good game, controversial win, but a good 2-1 win against the Dominican Republic, another team that is loaded with Major Leaguers.

And so I think that what sort of -- the Americans have sort of eased their way into the tournament, and now it's for all the marbles.

Let's also not forget that, when -- the last World Baseball Classic in 2023, they were in the final again.

They lost to the eventual winner, Japan.

So the Americans are -- they're -- it's almost -- it's not quite basketball, where you just expect them to show up and win because there are a lot of other good teams.

But when America is involved in baseball, they're going to be a pretty good team.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, what about Venezuela?

You're talking about a country with a deep baseball tradition, a team with serious star power as well, but they were not necessarily expected to make it to the championship.

So how'd they do it?

HOWARD BRYANT: Oh, they did it by beating Japan.

They beat the defending champions.

They came through against the team that -- everyone was expecting a rematch between the United States and Japan with Shohei Ohtani, of course, the best player in the game.

But let's not forget that as much as we talk about the Americans and their star power, you still have Ronald Acuna Jr., who is the superstar of the Atlanta Braves.

You have got Eugenio Suarez from Seattle.

You have got Jackson Chourio, superstar from Milwaukee.

They have got players, trust me.

They have got a lot of good players.

And they sort of broke the hearts of Italy coming back in the semifinal.

Italy looked like they were going to do the Cinderella thing.

So you have got two really good teams who a lot of those players know each other.

They have all been playing against each other for years.

They're going to be playing against each other again once spring training resumes and when the regular season goes.

So it's going to be a big game, a great game.

And it's really fun.

It's actually been, I think, the best tournament so far of the last 20 years they have been doing it.

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, the American team captain, Aaron Judge, said the crowds were bigger and better than the World Series.

For anyone unfamiliar with the World Baseball Classic, give us a sense of that atmosphere.

HOWARD BRYANT: Well, the atmosphere you're getting is -- and it really does depend.

I mean, I think one of the beauties of baseball, it's a true international sport that not all the countries play it, but the countries that do play, the United States, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Japan, Korea, they all play with a little bit of different style.

Certainly, when you bring the Latino players into it, it's a party.

I mean, you watch Venezuela, they have got a drum in the dugout.

You watch Nicaragua, they were having fun as well.

The Dominican Republic, it always feels like the Caribbean league when they're playing.

So they bring that sort of -- they bring that flavor of that neighborhood to it.

And so it's a big party.

They really enjoy playing the game.

And I think that that's actually one of the things that's been really interesting is that the Americans were the ones who were sort of the sourpuss of the tournament, because it's not the Olympics, as Bryce Harper said, that they kind of - - they were kind of the curmudgeons.

And -- but when you look at the other teams, Japan, and this is their moment where they get to be on the international stage, they're playing in the United States, and baseball has worked really, really hard to sort of turn this in to a World Cup of baseball.

A lot of people rolled their eyes.

But when you go to those games down in Houston and you look at where those games -- you look in the crowd, people are having a lot of fun.

There's really nothing to be sort of sour about.

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, we should also point out none of this is happening in a vacuum.

And while players for both the U.S.

team and the Venezuelan team have avoided talking about politics, tonight's matchup is going to come less than two months after the U.S.

seized the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, from his home in Caracas, brought him to the U.S.

to face narco-terrorism charges.

How is that backdrop impacting the game at all?

What does it mean in particular for team Venezuela?

HOWARD BRYANT: Yes, it'll be very interesting to find out.

A lot of these players have avoided these questions.

They're still there.

Everyone knows what's happening.

I think that the -- this is a very interesting moment in sports in general, because there is so much international activity, and sports has overlapped.

You see it with the U.S.

and Canada, not just when they played in the World Baseball Classic last week, but also when the U.S.

and Canada played in the Olympics.

This is one of the things about international competition.

You see it with the Olympics, depending on certain countries, how they interact with each other.

So I'm looking forward to seeing sort of what that energy is.

Maybe these players are downplaying it because they just don't want to get involved, or maybe you're going to see some real heightened intensity because of everything that's happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, before I let you go, care to make a prediction about tonight's game, who will win?

HOWARD BRYANT: Oh, I can't make any predictions, but I will say one thing.

I don't know who's going to win.

That's why they play the game.

But the one thing I will say about this is that baseball's got something really good going on here.

You have got Canada in the World Series for the first time back in October for the first time in 30-something years, 33 years, 32 years.

You have got the World Baseball Classic with all of these teams really involved.

And baseball's got something really good going.

And what is in the backdrop?

Possible labor at the end of the season, that they may shut the game down.

So I'm really hoping that the combination of last year's World Series and this World Baseball Classic is going to get the people in the back rooms to realize that you're on a hot streak.

Don't mess it up by fighting about money.

AMNA NAWAZ: Howard Bryant, always such a joy to speak with you.

Thank you so much.

HOWARD BRYANT: Thank you.