MIAMI — The games in this World Baseball Classic, collectively, have been like the very best postseason series, with the mayhem unspooling so fast that you cannot possibly keep it all together. It is a grand mosaic, each little piece its own story, all of them essential to the whole.
Now we come to the end, on Tuesday night, when the United States will try to defend its 2017 title against Japan, which won the first two tournaments in 2006 and 2009. Japan never led in Monday’s semifinal against Mexico until the moment the game ended, on a two-run double by Munetaka Murakami that capped a 6-5 thriller.