*Photo from CNN*
It was a highly anticipated matchup, and the moments were sure there. Munetaka Murakami homered, Shohei Ohtani closed out the game, and Team Japan defeated Team USA in the World Baseball Classic championship game on Tuesday night in Miami.
The victory gives Japan their 3rd WBC title in the 5th version of it, also their first since 2009. They won the championship in the first two editions, with the Dominican Republic winning in 2013 and the USA winning in 2017. Even better, Japan unseated the defending champions to win the title.
Ohtani said of winning the title that "I've seen Japan winning, and I just wanted to be part of it. I really appreciate that I was able to have the great experience. As I say, the next generation, the kids who are playing baseball, I was hoping that those people would like to play baseball. That would make me happy."
All time in the WBC, Japan boasts a 30-8 record in the 5 times that the competition has been held. This year, they went a perfect 7-0, breezing through pool play before a dramatic semifinal win, leading to the championship game that was also a drama filled contest. Ohtani took home WBC MVP honors.
Nootbaar said of the title win that "Winning today is obviously the most important. But the fact that we were able to go undefeated through the whole time, beat a great Mexico team yesterday, come back today and then play against, obviously, maybe the greatest lineup that's ever been assembled in baseball history makes it sweet that we did it undefeated, for sure."
It was the USA that got the scoring started. In the top of the second inning, Trea Turner hit his 5th homer of the WBC, this one a solo blast to left field to make it 1-0 USA. In the bottom of the second, Murakami immediately tied it for Japan with a second deck homer to right field. Lars Nootbaar then drove in Kazuma Okamoto later in the inning with a groundout to give Japan a 2-1 lead.
Once the bottom of the 4th inning rolled around, Japan extended the lead. It was Okamoto who did the job, hitting a solo home run to the left center field gap, making it a 3-1 Japan advantage. In the 8th, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run to get the USA back in it, cutting the deficit to 3-2 with one inning left.
That set the stage for the 9th inning. Ohtani came out of the bullpen to close out the game. With two outs, Ohtani's teammate and fellow AL MVP winner Mike Trout came to bat for the USA. With the count full, Ohtani threw a sweeper that induced a swing and miss from Trout, sealing the deal.
Asked about the at bat against Ohtani, Trout said "That's obviously fun, obviously didn't come out the way I wanted to. You know, I think as a baseball fan everybody wanted to see it. He won round one."
Shota Imanaga got the start for Japan, lasting two innings while allowing one run. Shosei Togo pitched the next two innings, followed by Hiroto Takahashi working the 5th inning. Hiromi Itoh, Taisei Ota, Yu Darvish, and Ohtani combined for the final 4 innings to seal the win.
Merrill Kelly started for Team USA, allowing two runs and getting the loss while lasting 1 1/3 innings. Aaron Loup finished the second before Kyle Freeland pitched the next 3 innings, getting charged with one run. Jason Adam worked a scoreless 6th inning, with David Bednar and Devin Williams following suit in the 7th and 8th innings respectively.
The next edition of the WBC is set for 3 years from now in 2026. For now, the major leaguers that played return to their respective spring training camps, while the non MLBers wait for another chance to showcase themselves on the international stage.
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