On Tuesday night in front of 36,098 fans at loanDepot Park, Japan beat the United States 3-2 to become the 2023 World Baseball Classic champion! Japan remains undefeated when it advances to the World Baseball Classic finals and went all the way in the 2023 edition without a single loss.
As many would have expected, Shohei Ohtani stole the show and was responsible for the final out of the game, striking out Angels teammate Mike Trout to reach Japan’s third crown. Japan has won three of five tournaments (2006, 2009, 2023). Based on his both pitching and hitting contributions, Ohtani was named the Most Valuable Player of the event.