Jared Tofil | Staff Writer
Weeks of exciting professional Baseball globally just came to a close with Japan beating the USA, the former 2017 champions, for the World Baseball Classic title. The final at-bat in the 9th was a spectacle with Shohei Ohtani vs. his Los Angeles Angles teammate and one of the greatest of all time Mike Trout. Ohtani struck out Trout to close out a 3-2 win. This is now Japan's 3rd title, who previously won in 2006 and 2009. They are the only team to date to win multiple championships in the WBC and improve their all-time record in the series to 30-8.
28-year-old Shohei Ohtani snagged the MVP for the hard-fought work and excellent play the whole tournament.
"I happened to be able to get the MVP," Ohtani said. "But this really proves that Japanese baseball can beat any team in the world."
Japan managed to get here by opening the tournament with an 8-1 win over China and continued to steamroll their Pool B competition beating Korea(13-4), the Czech Republic(10-2), and Australia(7-1). Headinginto the playoffs,they managed to knock off Italy in the quarterfinals 9-3 with a 6-5 victory over Mexico in the next round to send them to the championship game vs. the USA.
Baseball isn't over just yet, though. SpringTraining for the MLB is in full swing, with opening day around the corner on March 30th. So if the World Baseball Classic didn't fully itch your Baseball scratch or you just want more professional Baseball, you won't have to wait too long. You will be able to watch not just the same talent we did in the WBC and other superstar players who didn't represent their national teams this year. There is so much to be excited about this season. It's a long one.
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