In his now-famous interview on his own TV show, MLB Network’s “Hot Stove,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa told his partners he was trying to stay off social media.

For his sanity, we can only hope DeRosa stuck to his plan.

With one loss to Team Italy in a World Baseball Classic game, DeRosa became the most maligned manager in WBC history, compared to the likes of Terry Bevington as the dumbest manager ever. A lack of knowledge concerning the WBC tiebreaker rules led to DeRosa sitting several of his top hitters, including Bryce Harper, Alex Bregman and Cal Raleigh, in what turned into an epic loss that nearly ended Team USA’s tournament run before the quarterfinal round.

How did an Ivy League grad from Penn get so dumb?

It all began when his “Hot Stove” partner, Matt Vasgersian, prefaced a question about the upcoming game with Italy by saying “you’ve already kicked through to the quarterfinals …” DeRosa answered the question by confirming his team had clinched a spot, even though it had not.

“It’s weird, we want to win this game, even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals,” he said, adding: “This is an important game for us.” DeRosa said he planned to rest some of his big hitters, admitting some players were “dragging” after the win over Mexico after the “boys were in the clubhouse celebrating until the wee hours of the night.”

Wink, wink.

That suggested the U.S. team considered the game against Italy as irrelevant, and that DeRosa himself was treating it that way.

When social media erupted during the loss to Italy, pointing to DeRosa’s ignorance of the rules from his MLB Network interview that was online, he was forced to admit after the game that he had “misspoke” on the show and “completely misread the calculations.”

Of course, so did Vasgersian, but because he’s not the manager, no one really cared.

Why none of DeRosa’s coaches pointed out the error is a mystery. Maybe they figured he knew what he was doing. Making matters worse, MLB Network took down the video of the DeRosa interview, a lame attempt to mitigate the situation. Only after an outcry did the network, which MLB owns, restore it to its site.

Team USA managed to get into the quarterfinals anyway after Italy pummeled Mexico on Wednesday and will take on Canada on Friday.

All’s well that ends well?

Maybe for Team USA, but certainly not for DeRosa, whose reputation has been irretrievably altered and is unlikely to get another shot at managing in the WBC again.

For those of us who covered DeRosa’s playing career, it’s crazy to think some fans now consider him toxic. When he played for the Chicago Cubs in 2007 and ’08, all the beat writers knew he would wind up in the media.

Those Cubs teams were full of veterans who often chafed at Lou Piniella’s old-school managing ways but won anyway, at least until the postseason. DeRosa complained after being shockingly dealt to Cleveland and hinted it was somehow Piniella’s fault, but Piniella said in spring training 2009: “I always wish my players well when they go somewhere else. And I follow them. I really do because I care about them. To me there is no foundation for (a feud).”

Many felt the loss of DeRosa and the addition off Milton Bradley led to the Cubs’ downfall in 2009. But other than that minor controversy, DeRosa was the Paul Rudd of baseball.

Teammates liked him, as did the media and Cubs fans. He was loved by women for his good looks and by men for being a guy’s guy. DeRosa looks nearly the same as he did 20 years ago, albeit with glasses that give him a more professorial appearance. He’s very good at his current job as a morning TV host, where he doesn’t have to do much but smile and talk about last night’s games.

MLB chose him to be the Team USA manager in 2023 despite DeRosa having no experience. He looked the part and was already host of the network’s top highlight show. And, honestly, who couldn’t manage a virtual All-Star team of Americans for two weeks? DeRosa gladly accepted the job, and after the U.S. team lost to Team Japan in the title game, he was to come back and try again in ’26.

Former managers such as Bruce Bochy, Jim Leyland. Dusty Baker and Joe Torre could’ve been offered the job, but MLB wanted DeRosa. (Baker wound up managing Team Nicaragua).

The U.S. team has too much talent to not get to the final again, but who knows? Tarik Skubal left the team to go back to spring training camp with the Detroit Tigers, choosing a huge free-agent payday in November over risking his arm again in a glorified exhibition game. Paul Skenes is expected to start Friday, but the rotation is no longer deep with Skubal gone.

Adding to the pressure, DeRosa’s gaffe has taken on a life of its own. It has been debated ad nauseam over the last few days, so it’ll be interesting to see how Fox Sports treats it on Friday’s telecast.

Will Fox let DeRosa off the hook like MLB Network, or point out the U.S. manager has become the biggest story of the tournament due to the fiasco regarding the Italy game?

Fox is a partner of MLB and has analyst Adam Wainwright, who showed off the USA flag lining of his sports coat in one game to reveal he’s not an impartial observer. But the network also employs A.J. Pierzynski, who doesn’t shy away from criticizing MLB, and has a veteran journalist in on-field reporter Ken Rosenthal, who figures to interview DeRosa at some point.

In a column for The Athletic, Rosenthal wrote: “Win the tournament, and Tuesday’s fiasco will be remembered as little more than a loud hiccup.”

I’m not so sure about that. Even if the U.S. wins, DeRosa’s managerial reputation is toast. He’ll go back to his happy-talk morning show on MLB Network, but no one is going to forget about his “misread” that “punched a ticket” to the quarterfinals before one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

DeRosa’s only saving grace is that the WBC is just a money-making venture for MLB and its corporate partners that shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

“Obviously, the WBC is great, but it’s not the Olympics,” Harper correctly said last week.

If the U.S. loses to Canada, no one outside of the clubhouse is going to lose any sleep.

But wait until 2028. If MLB stops its season so major league players can participate in the Los Angeles Olympics, as the NHL did with great success last month in the Milan Cortina Winter Games, that’s when the pressure to win will really be on Team USA.

Hopefully DeRosa can watch it all from the comfort of his “Hot Stove” studio.

WBC schedule

Quarterfinals

— Korea vs. Dominican Republic

5:30 p.m. Friday in Miami, FS2

— United States vs. Canada

7 p.m. Friday in Houston, Fox-32

— Puerto Rico vs. Italy

2 p.m. Saturday in Houston, FS1

— Venezuela vs. Japan

8 p.m. Saturday in Miami, Fox-32

Semifinals | Miami

— First two quarterfinal winners, 7 p.m. Sunday, FS1

— Second two quarterfinal winners, 7 p.m. Monday, FS1

Championship game | Miami

— Semifinal winners, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Fox-32

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