Opinion | World Baseball Classic: Shohei Ohtani gives his sport the moment it desperately needed
- A transcendent moment for Japan – as well as an entire sport – in victory over the US in the final of a memorable tournament
- Ohtani – arguably the greatest player of all time – leads Japan to success during a wildly passionate and historically thrilling two weeks
Festive passion is not the first thing that comes to mind when talking about Major League Baseball (MLB).
It’s a ponderous game, filled with interminable gaps in action that seem alien to a youthful culture weaned on constant stimuli. MLB is acutely aware of this and has made drastic changes this year to pick up the pace, most notably a strict pitch clock and the ending of defensive shifts that have kept scoring down.
But none of those changes arrived in time to instil the type of passion that the World Baseball Classic (WBC) just produced.
After preliminary games in Japan, Taiwan and the United States, the event landed front row centre in Miami this past week with the top players from Puerto Rico, the powerhouse Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela getting it on in the global capital of Hispanic diaspora.
The crowds were so wildly passionate that when defending champions the United States played Venezuela in the quarterfinals, the American players admitted it felt like a road game.
Down two runs very late in the game, US shortstop Trea Turner would hit a grand slam to save the day in what instantly became the loudest and most resonant at bat in American international baseball history.
