{"id":31563,"date":"2023-03-22T09:31:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T09:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/2023\/03\/22\/world-baseball-classic-final-japan-beat-defending-champions-usa-3-2-to-win-third-title\/"},"modified":"2023-03-22T09:31:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T09:31:32","slug":"world-baseball-classic-final-japan-beat-defending-champions-usa-3-2-to-win-third-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/?p=31563","title":{"rendered":"World Baseball Classic final: Japan beat defending champions USA 3-2 to win third title"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n

\n
\"Japan's<\/span><\/span>
Japan are just the second team to go unbeaten through a WBC tournament, after Dominican Republic in 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Japan earned a thrilling 3-2 victory over defending champions USA to win the World Baseball Classic for a third time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Japanese star Shohei Ohtani clinched the win in Miami by striking out US captain Mike Trout, his Los Angeles Angels team-mate, in the ninth inning.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Japan won the first two editions of the tournament in 2006 and 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n

“This is the best moment in my life,” said Ohtani, 28, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve seen Japan winning and just wanted to be part of it. I really appreciate that I was able to have this great experience.”<\/span><\/p>\n

He also made the team of the tournament as both the designated hitter and a pitcher.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fifth edition of the WBC came down to a match-up between two of Major League Baseball’s best players in the tournament’s final at-bat.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2021, Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to be selected for the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and a hitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trout, 31, signed the <\/span>most lucrative contract in world sport in 2019<\/span><\/a> – a 12-year extension worth a reported $426.5m (\u00a3324m).<\/span><\/p>\n

Ohtani prevailed in front of a sell-out crowd of 36,098 to spark wild celebrations both among his team-mates and back home in Tokyo.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think as a baseball fan, everybody wanted to see it. He won round one,” said Trout with a smile.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The baseball world won tonight,” added US manager Mark DeRosa. “I was hoping it would go our way with Mikey popping one against Ohtani. <\/span><\/p>\n

“The whole world got to see Ohtani come in – [in a] big spot, battling. That’s kind of how it was scripted. I just wish it would have gone differently.”<\/span><\/p>\n

‘This proves Japan can beat anyone’<\/h3>\n
\"Shohei<\/span><\/span>
After striking out Mike Trout to clinch victory, Shohei Ohtani threw his glove and cap into the air before being mobbed by his team-mates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner put the star-studded US team in front in the second inning with his fifth home run of the tournament, tying the record for a single WBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Munetaka Murakami homered to help Japan gain a 2-1 lead in their second inning, before Kazuma Okamoto homered in the fourth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Schwarber hit a home run in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 3-2, before Ohtani won his individual duel with Trout.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Whether I got him out or he got a hit off me, I didn’t want to take any risks,” Ohtani said. “I wanted to make my best pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

“This really proves that Japanese baseball can beat any team in the world.”<\/span><\/p>\n

US manager DeRosa added: “Although our guys are disappointed, I couldn’t be prouder of them, the way they came together as a team. They truly started to bond and enjoy being around each other.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The next WBC is due to be held in 2026 and Ohtani has challenged Japan to build on their success.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Just because we won today doesn’t mean that we achieved a final goal, this is just a passing point,” he said. “Our team has just started.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/span><\/span>
Fans watched Tuesday’s game late into the night in Japan’s capital Tokyo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fans<\/span><\/span>
Fans celebrated in the streets on Wednesday morning in Tokyo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fans<\/span><\/span>
There were also long queues in Tokyo to buy special edition newspapers reporting Japan’s win<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Across<\/span><\/span>\"Across<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

[ad_2]
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[ad_1] Japan are just the second team to go unbeaten through a WBC tournament, after Dominican Republic in 2013 Japan earned a thrilling 3-2 victory over defending champions USA to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusefornews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}