Arguably the most talented collection of baseball players ever will share a field Sunday night at loanDepot Park in Miami when the United States and Dominican Republic meet with a trip to the World Baseball Classic Championship Game on the line. USA outlasted Canada to reach the semifinals, while the Dominican Republic mercy ruled Korea to punch their ticket.

“What can we expect? An unreal environment, right?” USA manager DeRosa said following his team’s win over Canada. “… I expect it to be like one of the best games of all time.”

The Dominican Republic has dominated this WBC. It is 5-0 and has outscored its opponents 51-10 in the five games. USA’s vibes have been off since a shocking loss to Italy, and DeRosa’s conflicting comments about whether he believed his team had already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals prior to that game. Regardless, USA’s talent level is off the charts.

The atmosphere at loanDepot Park will be electric and the play on the field should be at the highest level. To get you ready for what is sure to be one of the most entertaining games of the year, let’s build an all-USA/Dominican Republic WBC team by comparing the two squads position-by-position. Come with me, won’t you?

Austin Wells has thoroughly outperformed Raleigh in the WBC. The Mariners slugger looked out of sorts at the plate and behind it, so much so that I wonder if DeRosa will roll with Will Smith on Sunday. For now, I’ll assume it will be Raleigh and bank on the track record. I’ve been watching this game too long to put too much stock into a great player looking bad for a few games. As good as Wells has been in the WBC, I’ll hitch my wagon to the 60-homer man.

There have been times DeRosa has managed the WBC like it’s a Little League game and everyone needs a turn. I’m not sure how to explain Paul Goldschmidt starting over Bryce Harper against Italy otherwise. It has to be Harper against the Dominican Republic, right? Right. Regardless, Guerrero is the pick here. He’s carried last year’s postseason heroics into this year’s WBC. If I were Team USA, Vlad Jr. is the last player I would want to see at the plate in the big spot Sunday.

Ketel Marte is the best second baseman in baseball, but Turang isn’t far behind him at all, and I think defense is the great separator here. Turang is a terrific defender (Marte not so much) and in a game with two high-powered offenses like these, that ability to save a run or steal an out in the field can be the difference. Turang has been one of USA’s best and most consistent hitters in the WBC thus far. He is 7 for 15 with four doubles and two steals in the tournament. Tough, tough call at the keystone.

When a finger injury forced Jeremy Peña to withdraw from the WBC, the Dominican Republic turned to Geraldo Perdomo, who finished fourth in the National League MVP voting last year. That’s some backup plan, eh? Witt is the pick here though, clearly. His dynamic all-around skill set has been on full display in the WBC. Terrific at-bats, jaw-dropping defense, electric baserunning. Witt is the closest thing to a perfect player as there is in the sport right now. Here’s a sign of how things have gone for USA: Witt has reached base 10 times in the WBC but has scored only two runs.

In Machado and Alex Bregman, these two clubs have grizzled veterans at the hot corner. Honestly, USA should start Gunnar Henderson at third base, but DeRosa seems to be sticking with Bregman as his starter. If this were Henderson, he would be my pick at third. I expect DeRosa to go with Bregman though, so I’m going with Machado by the slimmest of margins. This is the closest position battle between these two clubs. Bregman or Machado, Machado or Bregman? That’s as close as it gets.

Roman Anthony is a heck of a player and he’s going to be a star in this league for a long time, but come on, he’s no Soto. Soto’s flair for the dramatic has followed him to the WBC and I swear, every time I look up, he’s on base. There are very few left fielders I would take over Anthony for Sunday’s game or over the next 10 years. Soto is one of them.

PCA has started three of USA’s five games, including the last two, so I assume he’ll get the nod over Byron Buxton on Sunday (especially with a righty on the mound for the Dominican Republic). Julio Rodríguez has had a relatively quiet WBC and it hasn’t mattered even a tiny bit. The Dominican Republic is still running opponents out of the building. Crow-Armstrong has looked terrific in the WBC. His at-bat quality has been every bit as good as it was during his torrid first half last year, if not better.

Hoo boy, what a matchup here. Judge or Fernando Tatis Jr.? There’s no wrong answer. Tatis laps Judge in the fun department, but Judge is the best hitter in the world, and he’s made an impact with his defense in the WBC as well. Now that Soto has moved to left field full-time, Judge is the only right fielder in baseball I would take over Tatis. Both have been awesome in the WBC. In the end, it’s Aaron Judge. I can’t pick anyone over this guy.

My head says Schwarber, my heart says Junior Caminero. Caminero’s had a ton of big hits through five games — a ton of big hits and also zero strikeouts — and he seems to have that “rise to the moment” gene. Schwarber has been a catalyst for USA though, reaching base 11 times in five games, and hitting one massive home run in pool play. We’re picking for one single game here. For one game, I’ll take my chances for Schwarber. Can’t go wrong with Caminero though.

Now that we’ve gone position-by-position, we might as well build a batting order. Here’s how I’d line ’em up:

1. SS Bobby Witt Jr., RHB
2. LF Juan Soto, LHB
3. RF Aaron Judge, RHB
4. 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., RHB
5. DH Kyle Schwarber, LHB
6. C Cal Raleigh, SHB
7. 2B Bryce Turang, LHB
8. 3B Manny Machado, 3B
9. CF Pete Crow-Armstrong, LHB

Plugging 2026 ZiPS projections into the Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis Tool tells me that lineup would average 5.74 runs per game, or 939 runs per 162 games. That would not be a record! Or even close to a record. The modern era record is 1,067 runs by the 1931 Yankees. Those 939 runs would be only — “only” — 37th most all-time. Consider me skeptical. I think that lineup tops 1,000 runs, even in today’s offensive environment. Let’s now get to the pitching.

Starting pitcher: Paul Skenes, USA

With all due respect to Luis Severino, who’s had a long and successful career, this is the biggest positional mismatch Sunday. Skenes is the best right-handed pitcher in the world and maybe the best pitcher in the world period. The USA will be able to leave him out there for 80 pitches too (the pitch limit in the semifinals). This Dominican Republic lineup is deep and powerful, so Skenes will have his hands full. The same applies to Severino and the USA lineup though. Skenes is the easy pick here. 

The Dominican Republic keeps blowing teams out, so it hasn’t had a traditional save chance yet. Elvis Alvarado, one of the last guys in the bullpen, has the Dominicans’ only WBC save because he had to bail out Abner Uribe against Venezuela on Wednesday. I assume Uribe would get a save chance against USA on Sunday. Or maybe Camilo Doval? Seranthony Domínguez? They have options. I know this much: If USA has a save chance, Miller will come out of the bullpen, and he’s the best closer in the game in my opinion.

Manager: Albert Pujols, DR

DeRosa has not covered himself in glory this WBC between his comments before (and after) the Italy game and his lineup decisions. There have been some real spring training vibes. Not much urgency, you know? The Dominican Republic players have made life easy for Pujols because they’re averaging 1.24 runs scored per inning (for real), so he hasn’t had to make any difficult decisions or pull any strings. Still, I’d rather trust my team to Pujols than DeRosa. I can’t imagine I’m alone. You hope it doesn’t come down to this, but a manager’s decision could absolutely swing Sunday’s game.