WBC 2023

This year in the World Baseball Classic, Japan took home the title as they beat the United States 3-2. Shohei Otani was lights out against the United States as he struck out his teammate from the Angels, Mike Trout. The tournament is played in a four year cycle, but was pushed back to six as they did not play in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, Japan won its 3rd World Baseball Classic, they won in 2006 and 2009 as well.

The World Baseball Classic started in 2006 and it has been a very successful and popular tournament to watch as the best of the best compete for their country to represent themselves and their team. The teams that participated were Cuba, Italy, Panama, Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Australia, Korea, Czech Republic, USA, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Great Britain, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Israel, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.

This year was full of great plays by the best players in the world. Without a doubt, one of the most popular names in the series was Trea​​ Turner. The guy could not be stopped; he was on fire throughout the whole series of games. He posted a slash line of .368/.429/1.000, with four home runs and 10 RBI. He lead the field in homers and is tied for the top in RBI with Japanese left fielder Masataka Yoshida. 

Another player that was on fire in the series was Shohei Otani. Arguably one of the best players in baseball and one of the most famous players in the world. The 28 year old showed everyone why he is one of the best in the world. He batted a .435 with 1 home run and 8 RBI. He not only played great, but he was one of the biggest reasons why Japan went all the way. What was not shown often in the series was how good of a pitcher Othani is. It’s extremely rare for a pitcher to be a good hitter, and even more so an unbelievable hitter like Othani, which is a big reason for his popularity. He was one the one of the best pitchers in the league.

Japan was leading Team USA by a run, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, both teammates on the Angels, were competing against each other for their country. They are two of the best in the world. Trout came out with an American flag and Ohtani came out with a Japan flag. Of course the baseball gods would have Otani and Trout face each other for the ending. With two outs in the ninth inning, the championship game of the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday night in Miam, came down to the last pitch. On the sixth pitch of the at bat, Ohtani struck out Trout on a slider that hit the outside corner. Ohtani and Japan is now on top of the world.