Japan's World Baseball Classic title defense is over. Saturday night at loanDepot Park in Miami, Venezuela rallied from behind to eliminate Japan ( VEN 8, JPN 5) and advance to the semifinals. Venezuela is one step away from Tuesday's Championship Game and Japan will head home following its worst World Baseball Classic finish ever.

The teams traded zeroes in the fourth, but Venezuela jumped on Chihiro Sumida after he replaced Yamamoto to start the fifth, with Jackson Chourio drawing a leadoff walk and Maikel Garcia depositing a baseball deep into the left field stands to make it a one-run game. Meanwhile, Enmanuel de Jesus was restoring order for Venezuela on the mound.

Whatever the case, Samurai Japan has a major decision to make between now and then: It has to figure out what it wants to be. Because the Japanese received a definitive verdict on the state of their game in their 8–5 loss to Venezuela in the quarterfinals of the WBC. What they’re doing isn’t working.

After sweeping through Pool C with a 4-0 record, Japan will take on Venezuela in the quarterfinals. Shohei Ohtani and Samurai Japan are the favorites to advance, but these odds are tighter than expected at -162 odds for the chalk and +134 for the South American underdogs.

Venezuela heads into Saturday's World Baseball Classic quarterfinal against Japan confident of ending the three-time champi

Recapping Saturday's action from the World Baseball Classic and taking a peek at Sunday's first semifinal game: The magical run continues for undefeated Italy, which will be taking its Armani suits, espresso machines,