Team Canada had an unbelievably hot start in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC,) rocking the living hell out of Great Britain to the point where officials just said "screw it" (okay, maybe I'm paraphrasing) and called the game in the seventh inning.

In a game described with words like "chaotic," Canada's squad absolutely clobbered its world-colonizing parent nation (which I assure you is not just made up of cricket players on holiday) in a back-and-forth 18-8 win in Phoenix on Sunday.

And Canada may have stretched that lead even further, had umpires not called the game in the mid-seventh under a mercy rule.

Canada completes the mercy rule over Great Britain 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/DsOZTUtzXn

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 12, 2023

If you ever played sports as a kid, you probably remember the mercy rule, no matter which side of the equation you found yourself on. It places a cap on just how much you can win a game by, ensuring that nobody has their feelings hurt because sports is about having fun or some other dumb saying the coach tells you when you lose.

According to WBC rules, games are ended when a team is ahead by 10 runs after at least seven innings.

Great Britain and Canada fought back and forth in the early innings, but Canada would break the game wide open with a four-run third inning and a six-run fourth inning. At the end of 6, the Canadian squad was up 18-8, giving the Brits just three outs to earn back a run and avoid an embarrassing invocation of the mercy rule.

if you're not watching the GB vs Canada WBC game, i've made a helpful meme to catch y'all up on what you've missed so far: pic.twitter.com/v5GNnHZyT6

— Shanna Shi (@shanna_shi) March 12, 2023

The game was rife with chaos, and even through the frequent runs and big moments, some fans felt it was viewers that had been treated to a merciful end more than the opposing team.

It's not called the mercy rule because it's mercy on the other team, but actually because it's mercy on our eyes

— Exorcise The Injury Bug (@PeaceOfYoshi) March 12, 2023

It was still an entertaining affair, however, one that included perhaps the most British celebration in the history of professional sports.

Great Britain may have the worst uniforms, but their celebrations are top notch. pic.twitter.com/e4AgHbofJw

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) March 12, 2023

The win broke a WBC record for the most runs scored by a team in a game, especially notable when the record came during a truncated match cut short by the mercy rule.

Canadian rakin'.

The highest-scoring #WorldBaseballClassic game in history goes to Team Canada. pic.twitter.com/QUfI7inqUG

— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 12, 2023

Unfortunately, the game's legacy was shattered less than one day later, when the Korean team laid waste to the Chinese team in a 22-2 thrashing that was also cut short by umpires in an act of mercy.

With 26 total runs, the game still holds the record for highest-scoring game in WBC history, but at the wild pace of the tournament thus far, that could change before most of you even read this sentence.

Coming off an extremely hot start, Canada will next face off with the WBC's top dog in the United States on March 13 and Colombia on March 14.