In the greatest moment in baseball history, two teammates faced off at bat against each other with hopes to bring glory to their respective home countries. It was the perfect script that could not have been better written: The two best baseball players in the world—Japan’s Shohei Ohtani and the United States’ Mike Trout—matched up against each other in the World Baseball Classic championship game in the ninth inning with the game and title on the line.
With Ohtani on the pitcher’s mound and Trout in the batter’s box, the game had two outs in the final frame and a one-run lead for Japan. Tensions were high in the loanDepot Park as “U-S-A” chants broke out at a 3-2 count. And then the picture-perfect moment happened. Ohtani threw an 87-mph slider that Trout swung through, stunning the entire United States squad and their fans. The camera quickly panned to capture Ohtani celebrating with his Japanese teammates as Trout headed back to the Team USA dugout defeated.
Not only was the final pitch special due to the legendary matchup, but Ohtani’s strikeout gave Japan their third WBC victory, with their last being in 2009. The team went undefeated in the seven games they played in the tournament.
The United States squad ended their WBC run with a 5-2 record, with their first loss being against Mexico in the group stage.
“I believe this is the best moment in my life,” Ohtani told ESPN. “It was the greatest situation facing the greatest hitter, so it was great.”
His teammate Kazuma Okamoto also said, “I thought it was like a manga, like a comic book.”
With such a stacked field in baseball across the world, the WBC has helped the sport grow to new levels. This year’s WBC shattered several viewership and attendance records, including the final being the most watched WBC game in U.S. history, peaking at a total of 6.5 million viewers.
But the global expansion for the sport is even more evident. This year’s matchup between South Korea and Japan attracted 70 million viewers, which was more than the viewership of any competition in the Tokyo Olympics. In Japan alone, 62 million viewers tuned in to watch Japan beat their rivals. To put this in perspective, nearly half of all Japanese households were tuned into the game.
Previously, many fans have expressed their disapproval towards this tournament, viewing it as a poorly-timed, over-glorified exhibition that was in the middle of training. However, the major success of this year’s WBC has globally portrayed its significance to the sport by attracting millions of fans that were given a taste of peak baseball.
The sense of national pride among all the players competing for their country brings next-level competitiveness to the scene, and the sports community certainly loves it. It is safe to say that the WBC has potential to be one of the most prominent international sporting events, finding its place alongside the World Cup and the Olympics.