In his next at-bat, he reached on an infield single and came around to score. Against the U.S., he opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-run homer off Nick Martinez. The Nationals first baseman broke out as a 30-year-old rookie last season, and his hot streak evidently persisted through the winter. And the most formidable foe in its pool, the defending champion United States, awaited in Game 2.įortunately, Mexico had Joey Meneses hitting third in its lineup. The dark horse contender used its ace, Julio Urías, in its opener, but fell to Colombia in extra innings. Mexico was in trouble after just one game. So instead, let’s run down the top 10 moments from a phenomenally memorable World Baseball Classic: 10. Initially, I thought about writing this post with a Ringer-style winners and losers format-but other than the Dominican Republic and a couple of injured MLB stars (whose pain, while certainly unfortunate, hopefully will not prevent star participation in future WBCs), it was hard to find any losers from this captivating, compelling, completely climactic tournament. And it finished with Samurai Japan’s third title, as MVP Shohei Ohtani whiffed Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out.
With a surfeit of stars competing, fans engaged across five continents, and an ending so perfect it seemed like the product of an over-the-top script, the first WBC since 2017 more than delivered. The 2023 WBC was even more entertaining than I expected-and I was a tremendous enthusiast already. I don’t know any other way to start this piece, celebrating the 2023 World Baseball Classic, other than to bask in the pure joy that capped the tournament.
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