Japan Defies the Odds: How Shohei Ohtani Fans Mike Trout and Wins the WBC Championship

Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout had been dreaming of this moment for a long time, along with lots of baseball fans in both Japan and the U.S.: The two best players in the world playing against each other to win the World Baseball Classic title. On Tuesday night, Ohtani threw a slider on the outside corner of the plate which caused Trout to swing and miss, giving Japan their 3-2 victory AND the trophy! This is their first championship since 2009.

Ohtani, who excites baseball fans around the world by being good both at batting and pitching, was just voted most valuable player of the World Baseball Classic (WBC). He had a great showing during the tournament with a .435 batting average, one homerun, four doubles, eight runs batted in and 10 walks. On top of that he was 2-0 and saved a game while on the mound with 11 strikeouts over 9 2/3 innings and only giving up 1.86 earned runs! When talked about all of this, Ohtani said it’s been “the best moment” in his life.

Mike Trout, a teammate of Shohei Ohtani’s on the Los Angeles Angels since 2018 said: “I think every baseball fan wanted to see that. I have been asked about it for quite some time now!”. He then added questioning if it could end any other way?

Kazuma Okamoto, Japan’s first baseman was completely shocked while watching the last two innings play out and couldn’t help but exclaim “It felt like something out of a comic book!”

Mark DeRosa, who is from the United States, was really enjoying the game – apart from how it ended. He said that he wished Mike had hit a really long home run. Ohtani delivered an inspiring pre-game speech in his team’s locker room.

He said, “Let’s forget about adoring them. If we keep admiring them, it’ll be hard for us to achieve more than them. We’re here today to become better than them and reach the top! So, let’s put aside our admiration and just concentrate on winning.”

In 2013, Japan joined the Dominican Republic as the only two teams who won all their games in the world’s greatest national baseball tournament. The Samurai Warriors were really good and scored 56 times while never letting any of their opponents score more than 18 points each time. After winning twice in 2006 and 2009, they have been crowned champions again! No other team has won this title more than once.

Trea Turner hit a homerun that put the USA in the lead (1-0) against Shota Imanaga, which was his fifth home run of the whole tournament. Trea Turner’s five home runs tied Seung Yuop Lee’s 2006 WBC record!

Munetaka Murakami smacked a pitch into the right-field upper deck, sending it flying 432 feet with an impressive speed of 115.1 mph. This tied the score and gave Japan a 2-1 lead. Lars Nootbaar, the first non-Japanese player to play for the Samurai Warriors, ran to home plate and scored a run off Aaron Loup’s pitch.

Okamoto hit a home run over the wall in left-center off Freeland in the fourth inning, which widened the lead. In the eighth inning Schwarber also hit a home run off Darvish which brought the team closer to equalising the score.

Ohtani from Japan began his role as the designated hitter and before the 6th inning, he moved to the bullpen. Later in that same game, Ohtani came back to the dugout and got a single in the 7th inning then again walked down the left-field line to Japan’s bullpen to warm up for his third pitching appearance during the tournament.

He started off by walking well-known batting champion Jeff McNeil but then he stopped Mookie Betts who is one of MLB’s six-time All-Stars by making him hit a ball into a double play.

Trout, the captain from the United States team, was brought up. He’s a super superstar- earning 10 All-Star Awards and 3 MVP awards in his career so far.

DeRosa noticed Trout taking a deep breath to try to calm himself down as he witnessed two of the best players on earth standing together for an important moment. DeRosa said that he would never be able to understand what this moment feels like.

Ohtani started with a slow-moving slider, then made Trout swing and miss at a 100 mph fastball. Another fastball went too far to the side and Trout missed the 99.8 mph pitch down the middle. The fastest of Ohtani’s 15 pitches was 101.6 mph, but it was way outside low.

Ohtani took a break and blew into his pitching hand. Then he threw another slow slider ball.

Trout looked unhappy because he failed to hit the ball, which was the twelfth time this happened in the tournament. Ohtani was thrilled and pumped his fists in celebration while his teammates crowded around him to congratulate him – he scored .296 with a homer and seven runs during the tournament.

Ohtani and Trout hugged each other before the game began, then each held up their country’s flag while they walked side by side towards home plate. Ohtani got his second win ever in his career, with the first one being back in 2016 when he was playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Thousands of fans came to the stadium really early to watch Ohtani take batting practice and they clapped excitedly when he hit a ball that flew off the video board in center field. DeRosa said it was amazing how Ohtani could do what almost all players did during Little League/youth tournaments but do it at an incredibly high level on one of the biggest stages available. He went on to say that other people might try to follow in Ohtani’s footsteps, but no one will likely be able to do it as well as him.

Japan has been awarded $3 million and the US was given $1.7 million in prize money. Half of these amounts will go to the players while the other half goes to their respective countries’ baseball federations. The Major League Baseball season is scheduled to kick off on March 30th, which also happens to be the same day that Japan’s season starts. For more information, visit https://bigbignews.net/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports.