Though some affectionally referred to the 2023 United States World Baseball Classic team as “The Dream Team,” it was perhaps a fairytale to think that a group built primarily around dynamic offensive talent would be able to pull out a low-scoring game against Japan.
And while Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber both hit solo home runs for Team USA in the WBC final, Shohei Ohtani and Japan prevented a repeat for the red, white and blue.
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Turner got the scoring started in the top of the second inning, launching a one-out home run, his fourth blast in seven at-bats:
Munetaka Murakami — he of the 56 home runs in Nippon Professional Baseball in 2022 and a walk-off two-run double in Japan’s semifinal win over Mexico — quickly countered.
The 23-year-old slugger saw Turner’s 406-foot home run in the top half of the frame, and raised him a 432-foot bomb off of Merrill Kelly in the bottom of the second inning:
While Kelly wouldn’t make it out of the second inning, another run was charged to him before his line was completed. Lars Nootbar of the St. Louis Cardinals would give Japan a 2-1 on an RBI groundout off of Aaron Loup, a former Phillies reliever that inherited a bases loaded jam.
Kazuma Okamoto extended Japan’s lead to 3-1 by leading off the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo shot off of Kyle Freeland:
USA threatened in the top of the seventh, with Mookie Betts following up a leadoff walk by Jeff McNeil by singling into left field. However, reliever Taisei Ota got Mike Trout to fly out to right field, before inducing an inning-ending double play off of the bat of reigning National League MVP Paul Goldschmidt.
In the eighth, though, Kyle Schwarber continued his recent dominance off of Yu Darvish. The five-time All-Star didn’t get the start for Team Japan, but came on as the set-up man in the eighth inning. Schwarber didn’t match the 488-foot home run that he hit off of Darvish in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS, but he took the 10th pitch of his at-bat and hit it into the second deck at loanDepot Park:
In the ninth inning, Ohtani — just two innings after beating out an infield single — came on to close out the game for Japan. Ohtani walked Jeff McNeil, but then got Mookie Betts to hit into a double play.
That set up a matchup you couldn’t have scripted better. Ohtani against Mike Trout — two Los Angeles Angels teammates, arguably the two best players in the sport right now and two likely future Hall of Famers. And Ohtani got the best of Trout, striking him out on a nasty 3-2 pitch:
It was a legendary moment for Ohtani, and will unquestionably be an at-bat that’s revisited for as long as baseball is played.
In an anticlimactic development, Ohtani was named the MVP of the WBC:
Japan has now won three of the five installments of the World Baseball Classic, with their previous victories coming in 2006 and 2009. The United States has won the tournament once, in 2017. Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday afternoon that the next WBC will be held in 2026, with Trout already having committed to playing for Team USA.
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