It’s no surprise that the U.S. 18-and-under baseball team is expected to take gold at the Maccabiah. There are only three teams, and the other two are Canada and Israel — not countries known for their prowess on the diamond.

What no one expected, though, was that the U.S. would no-hit Canada twice.

The first and second no-hitters in Maccabiah baseball history happened this year, courtesy of the the boys in red, white and blue. They weren’t shy on offense, either. On Thursday, they beat Canada 12-0, then came back this week to pummel the canucks again, 14-0.

The Americans’ fortunes have been more mercurial, though, in their games against Israel. The U.S. kept up its dominance in its first match against the home team on Friday, beating Israel 15-1. But on Tuesday, the Americans got a rude awakening, suffering their first-ever loss in the Maccabiah, falling 5-3 to Israel.

On Friday, the U.S. will face one of the other teams for the gold medal. If it’s Canada, my money would be on another shutout victory for the U.S. But if it’s Israel, all bets are off.

Ben Sales is JTA’s Israel correspondent. He reports on Israeli politics, culture, society and economics, in addition to covering Palestinian and regional affairs. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and the Columbia University Journalism School, he is the former editor-in-chief of New Voices, the national Jewish student magazine.