The WBC Tournament Championship

The WBC (World Baseball Classic) Championship just concluded and it was very exciting to watch. Japan Vs. USA had many clutch hits and exciting plays throughout the whole game. The USA went 3-1 in Pool-C and Japan went 4-0 in Pool-B. Pools are a division of teams into four divisions with four teams in each division. Both teams had very talented rosters with players like Shohei Ohtani for Japan and Mike Trout for the United States. Both teams dominated the competition on the way to the championship and here's how it went down. The first inning was uneventful. .

Then the fireworks started and Trea Turner hit deep to the left field wall making the game 1-0, USA in the lead. After the home run J.T. Realmuto and Tim Anderson both singled, one to left field, and one to second base. The USA got out to a fast start, but then Japan fired back with a homerun of their own from Munetaka Murakami and after that Lars Nootbaar grounded out to first, scoring a run from third making the score 2-1, Japan. After a scoreless third inning from both teams, Japan took a commanding lead in the bottom of the fourth with a homerun from Kazuma Okamoto making the score 3-1. Not much happened In the 5th,6th, and 7th innings. Then Kyle Schwarber hit a clutch home run over the right center field wall making the score 3-2. After the top of the eighth inning, Devin Williams came in to pitch for David Bednar, Williams got the three outs the USA needed. The Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, teammate of Mike Trout, went into pitch for Yu Darvish. Next up to bat in the top of the ninth, was Jeff McNeil, who got a much needed walk in his at bat. Bobby Witt Jr. came into pinch run for McNeil and Mookie Betts came up to bat grounding into a hope killing double play.

The USA’s last chance to bat came up and this was a legendary battle between Japan's best and the USA’s best. Ohtani’s first pitch was a slider down and Trout took it for a ball, the second pitch of the at bat was a 100 mph fastball middle low, Trout took a big hack and missed, the third pitch was another 100 mph fastball and Trout took it for a ball outside. Ohtani was throwing fire as two more 100 mph fastball came out of his hand, and Trout missed one and took one for a ball. Suddenly, it was a 3-2 count and everyone in that stadium was up off of their seat as Ohtani threw a slider to strike out Mike Trout, and everyone was celebrating on team Japan as they got crowned WBC Champions. Overall this was a great tournament to watch and I cannot wait for another to be held. Even though the USA team didn’t win, they still gave us some great moments to watch and it’s always nice to see all the stars of the game like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani get together and play some good, old-fashioned baseball. I would definitely recommend watching this tourney next time you will not regret it.