MIAMI – So, let’s get that straight. Shohei Ohtani agreed to play for Team Japan knowing he would risk injury and a potential $500 million free agent contract. And now that he’s shown more emotion than ever, at least on this continent, won’t he face Team USA in the finals of the World Baseball Classic?
Do not buy.
Ohtani showed how invested he was in Team Japan during Monday night’s semifinals, throwing his arms overhead three times, bending and yelling towards the dugout after starting the ninth inning with a first pitch double. He then unleashed pure joy after Munetaka Murakami’s two-run walkoff double, bouncing with his teammates and tensing again to celebrate Japan’s savage 6-5 victory over Mexico.
The game was another WBC classic, LoanDepot Park’s fourth memorable contest in seven days. Just before I interviewed Ohtani on FS1, he was leaning forward with his hands on his knees, still out of breath.
“Every time you see Shohei show such emotion, you know it’s real,” Team Japan outfielder said Lars Nootbaar on FS1’s postgame show. “It drives everyone crazy. When a guy like that with a cool demeanor catches fire, it ignites a fire among everyone.”
Now for the intrigue: will Ohtani face Team USA in Tuesday night’s final?
Japanese manager Hideki Kuriyama has been timid about his plans, saying he needs to check Ohtani’s physical condition but conceding “it’s not a zero chance”. Ohtani said through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, “Mentally I’ll be ready to throw, but of course I’ll be DHing, so finding time to get hot in the bullpen will be difficult.”
What about starting? It would be the most logical use of Ohtani, allowing him to maintain his routine and face the four right-handers at the top of the US lineup – Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. But the question about the opening of the game was the only one Ohtani answered in English during his seven-minute interview with American reporters after the game.
“Maybe not,” he said, smiling.
Japan will instead start left-hander Shota Imanaga, an odd choice against Team USA’s right-handers, which include Pete Alonso, Tim Anderson and the red-hot Trea Turner. Righty Yu Darvish will likely be available for relief and maybe Ohtani could close. He was last remembered doing so in 2016 in the game that brought his Japanese team, the Nippon-Ham Fighters, to the Japan Series.
Team Japan bullpen coach Kazuyuki Atsuzawa, the Fighters’ pitching coach at the time, alerted Ohtani in the fifth inning that he might pitch. Ohtani, who served as the designated batsman, said he took an at-bat, went “in the back” of a bullpen to warm up, took another at-bat and got into the game. He exceeded 100 mph five times and hit 102 twice. Sounds crazy. Sounds like Ohtani.
The Angels’ opinion of Ohtani serving in the final is unknown; Neither general manager Perry Minasian nor manager Phil Nevin responded to text messages late Monday night. But what will the angels do, say no? Owner Arte Moreno, who says he’s willing to surpass the luxury tax for the first time to keep Ohtani, should probably advise his baseball folks not to tell their two-sided superstar, “Sorry, we don’t want you.” go all out for your country.”
Ohtani had an interesting response when asked why he showed so much passion after his double, his third straight on base, having started the evening 0-2.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played a win-or-lose game, a game with a playoff vibe,” he said. “Of course we couldn’t lose and I wanted to collect the boys on the dugout.”
The Angels, who lost five straight seasons and seven straight total with Ohtani, can interpret that however they like. Against Mexico, US fans finally got to see Ohtani perform under playoff pressure, just as they see Angels teammate Mike Trout enjoying playing significant games for Team USA.
Ohtani had never faced Cardinals right-hander Giovanny Gallegos, who took the mound with Mexico leading by one run in the ninth heat. At some point, it wasn’t clear when, Nootbaar heard Ohtani say he decided to come to the base. Nootbaar thought to himself, “Man, I wish I could just make up my mind and go to the base even in this situation.”
Gallegos threw a first pitch change. Ohtani looked for anything in the zone and drilled the pitch to right center. Good finish: Ohtani wisely avoided Team Mexico left fielder Randy Arozarena, who hit five putouts in the last five innings, including a home run ambush on Kazuma Okamoto.
“We had no luck hitting it that way,” Ohtani said dryly. “He made great plays in defence. I was glad I could pull the ball instead of batting it his way.”
And so it went on that wonderful night.
Japan fell 3-0 after a triple homer by Brewers’ Luis Urías against precocious Roki Sasaki with two outs in the fourth. The Japanese offensive started the night 1-to-10 with runners on base. But the Red Sox’s Masataka Yoshida, 9-on-19 with 13 RBIs in the tournament, ended the drought in a left-left matchup against the Cardinals’ JoJo Romero with two outs in the seventh and evened the score with a commanding three-run shot into the foul pole in right field.
Mexico then scored twice in the round of 16. Japan shot within a run in the bottom half. The margin was still one as Ohtani led in ninth place. Everything seemed possible, as always with Ohtani. During batting practice, he put on a tremendous show of strength, repeatedly hitting balls into the second deck in right and center field, areas unattainable for almost every other major league hitter.
“I knew Team Mexico was watching, so I wanted to send a little message,” Ohtani said. “If you leave a ball out there, this will happen.”
Ohtani trash talk? That’s different now. But Ohtani, 9-on-20 with five extra base hits in the tournament, is clearly caught by Team Japan in a 6-0 run and is brimming with confidence and charisma as his country seeks to win their third WBC title. Since the event began in 2006, no other country has won two.
That brings us to the finals against Team USA and the notion that Japan couldn’t field Ohtani in a close game, who finished fourth as a pitcher in last season’s American League Cy Young voting.
Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who together went 7 1/3 innings against Mexico, are arguably Japan’s two most effective pitchers ahead of Darvish and Ohtani in their regular-season build-up. Team Japan’s manager Kuriyama may not be able to control the game without using some of his smaller arms. Team USA Merrill Kelly is expected to start with all of their best available aides.
Such a good tournament can only end in one way than MLB Network’s Jon Paul Morosi suggested on Twitter: Featuring Ohtani coming out of the bullpen to face Trout in the ninth.
The ultimate moment in the ultimate tournament. who says no
(Photo Eric Espada / Getty Images)