World Baseball Classic Recap
On March 21, the final of the World Baseball Classic took place in Miami, Fla., at LoanDepot Park.
Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani led their respective countries' teams out to the field with the flags of the USA and Japan on their shoulder. The Los Angeles Angels teammates were the headline walking into this game as it was the first time the world would get to see them face off.
To get to this point, Team Japan was undefeated in pool play as they came out of Pool B undefeated with a record of 4-0. Then they went on to defeat Italy in the quarterfinals by a score of 9-3. Japan then walked off Mexico in the semifinals with a two-run double hit by Munetaka Murakami into center field that went off the wall.
On the other hand, the United States team had a slow start against Great Britain and a tough loss to Mexico by a score of 11-5. The USA finished second in Pool C with a 3-1 record and then went on to beat Venezuela in the quarterfinals 9-7. Team USA was down 5-7 until Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the eighth. They then went on to demolish Team Cuba in the semifinals 14-2.
So the stage was set for the World Baseball Classic final! Team USA vs. Team Japan averaged 4.5 million viewers which included 97.4% of TVs in Japan tuned in by the very end.
This game was everything baseball fans could have hoped for right until the very end. After two innings Japan was in the lead 2-1 and scored a third run in the bottom of the fourth. The fifth, sixth and seventh inning was quiet but Kyle Schwarber hit an absolute moonshot into the second deck of LoanDepot Park which gave Yu Darvish NLCS flashbacks in the top of the eighth inning.
This brought the US now only down by one run. The top of the ninth inning was do-or-die for the stars and stripes.
Shohei Ohtani was on the mound for Japan to close out the game. The last batter that stood in between Team Japan and the World Baseball Classic trophy was Ohtani’s Angels teammate and USA captain Mike Trout.
Getting the call to three balls and two strikes, Ohtani threw Trout four fastballs in a row where three in a row were 100 miles per hour and the fourth was 102 mph. Shohei then threw an offspeed slider which got Mike Trout to swing and Team Japan stood on top of the baseball world as 2023 World Baseball Classic champions!
Chris Machado is a junior studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cvm6238@psu.edu
