Japan ousted defending champion USA in a 3-2 win to snatch the World Baseball Classic title Tuesday night and the team, and the nation, didn’t hold back from celebrating their victory.
Shohei Ohtani led Japan to their first WBC crown since 2009 from the mound in a delicious matchup fans were dying to see when he took on his Los Angeles teammate Mike Trout.
Ohtani won the duel when, with a full count, he delivered a slider to the outside of the strike zone onto Trout, who spun and missed.
Ohtani ran off the mound in celebration and Japan was crowned the World Baseball Classic champion, sparking jubilation in Miami and at home.
The star pitcher didn’t stop leading his team once he left the field as he led the celebrations, spraying champagne on his teammates as Japan kicked off their title party in the clubhouse.
The Japanese team did not hold back in celebrating their victory in the World Baseball Classic
Star pitcher Shohei Ohtani led the celebrations as his teammates showered him with champagne.
Team Japan pose for a group photo in the clubhouse after defeating the USA 3-2
The celebrations began with a bit more poise on the pitch as the victorious players received their medals before hoisting the trophy.
But back at the clubhouse, the Japanese donned commemorative jerseys and protective ski goggles, popped the cork and let the champagne flow.
The jubilant stars went back and forth dousing each other with beer and champagne and performed the traditional ‘doage’: team members tossed the winning coach and players into the air.
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar Ohtani and San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish were also thrown into the air along with manager Hideki Kuriyama.
Baseball became popular in Japan thanks to American teachers and missionaries in the 1870s and 1880s, and a victory over the US in the final clearly meant more than just a game.
“Best decision I’ve ever made,” said Nootbaar, who was the first to play for Japan by descent.
He spoke in a television interview after the game, and then hugged his mother, Kumiko, who was standing over him.
“Nippon daisuki,” Nootbaar said in Japanese. ‘Arigate’.
‘I love japan. Thank you.’
Samurai Japan popped the corks and let the champagne flow again in the clubhouse.
They put on their usual ski goggles to protect their eyes as they sprayed champagne.
Ohtani wears the commemorative jersey with the trophy, Japanese flag and ‘champions’ on
Manager Hideki Kuriyama was thrown into the air by team members on the field
Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (center) is sprayed by Munetaka Murakami and Lars Nootbaar
And it wasn’t just the team celebrating, as the jubilant mood traveled to Japan, where fans watched the tense finale.
When Ohtani delivered the game-winning pitch against Trout and jumped off the mound, fans watching from home jumped from their chairs and erupted in cheers.
Japanese TV kept its coverage live from Miami for nearly two hours after Japan defeated the US, showing replays of the game over and over between clips of the team’s celebrations.
Baseball fans from across the country flooded the streets of Tokyo to grab the newspapers marking the event.
The country’s largest-circulation newspaper, Yomiuri, launched a special Wednesday afternoon edition for travelers, usually reserved for serious matters of state, breaking election news or, as happened last year, the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo. Abe.
“Japan World’s No. 1,” read the headline in Japanese, with commuters at Shibuya station pushing and shoving to grab the collectible.
They lined up to get a copy from the policeman who delivered the papers on the street.
It also gave a boost in Japan to baseball, which has been challenged by soccer as the country’s favorite sport. Japan is unlikely to win the soccer World Cup anytime soon, but their baseball is world-class. He has won three of the five WBC titles, since the first event in 2006.
Japan joined the Dominican Republic in 2013 as the only undefeated champions of baseball’s premier national team tournament.
Fans in Japan rushed to grab newspapers to commemorate the victory.
They lined up to get a copy from the policeman who delivered the papers on the street.
Many were eager to get their hands on the issue, which had Ohtani glued to the front.
Japanese television kept its coverage live from Miami for nearly two hours after the game.
Crowds gathered to watch the tense finale and erupted in applause when Ohtani struck out Mike Trout.
“I was fine win or lose,” Hiroya Kuroda, 44, told a crowd of about 400 watching the game in a Tokyo Tower studio. “But I was very touched by the fact that they showed us a dramatic game on that stage in the United States.”
Toshiya Ishii, a 29-year-old fan, broke down in tears at the win.
‘Thank you, Ohtani,’ he said. ‘Congratulations Samurai Japan. Thank you.’
“He’s definitely probably number one,” Ohtani said of his most cherished baseball moments, via the athletic. ‘A storybook situation and ending.’
Japan, which also prevailed in 2006 and 2009, leads all nations with three WBC titles.
Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber homered for Team USA, who entered this tournament as the reigning champions by virtue of their 2017 title.
Turner, who went 2-for-4 on Tuesday, hit five home runs during America’s WBC streak. Betts was 2-for-5 for the Americans.
The USA opened the scoring in the second inning when Turner hit a 406-foot solo home run to set up a Shota Imanaga fastball.
Murakami tied the score on the first pitch of the second inning, firing a 432-foot shot off a Merrill Kelly fastball.
Japan took a 2-1 lead later in the inning, taking Kelly out of the game after loading the bases with one out. Reliever Aaron Loup caught both batters he faced in the second, but Lars Nootbaar’s soft groundout brought home the go-ahead run.
Ohtani and his team lifted the trophy that had eluded them since they last won it in 2009
It was a battle of LA Angels teammates: Mike Trout of the US (R) and Ohtani of Japan (L)
For his role throughout the tournament, Ohtani was named the MVP of the World Baseball Classic.
Okamoto’s 407-foot home run off a Kyle Freeland slider gave Japan a 3-1 lead going into the fourth.
The US started well in the seventh when pinch hitter Jeff McNeil drew a four-pitch walk against Taisei Ota and Betts singled to left field. However, Trout lined up to the right and Paul Goldschmidt rebounded into a double play to end the threat.
Schwarber cut the US deficit to 3-2 after a strong at-bat against Yu Darvish. After bringing the score to 2-1, Schwarber fouled six pitches in a row before grabbing a splitter and hitting it 436 feet to right-center field to pull the Americans closer.
Ohtani came out to close out the game, something he hasn’t done since 2016 and has never done in the United States. Despite his tendency to play starting pitcher, Ohtani said he remembered those past situations when he faced the last three batters.
“That experience was huge for me,” Ohtani said through a translator. ‘This wasn’t my first time… so I knew how to prepare, even though it was five or six years ago, but that experience really helped me this time.’
In the ninth, McNeil drew a leadoff walk against Ohtani. Betts’ double play groundout set the stage for the epic duel between Ohtani and Trout.
Ohtani won the duel, getting Trout to shoot a 3-2 break that broke the ball away from him.