#Shortstops: The WBC Capper
Team Japan caps started raining down as the team began celebrating its third World Baseball Classic championship in 2023. No other country had more than one WBC championship at that time, and Japan had just added to its legacy as a global superpower.
Japan was 6-0 in the tournament entering the final game. They were attempting to pull off the extremely difficult task of an undefeated run to be crowned WBC champions, only done once before by the Dominican Republic in 2013. This run was largely dominated by global superstar Shohei Ohtani, who did everything in his power to win his first WBC.
On the field, Ohtani was nothing short of brilliant. With his bat, he hit .435 throughout the tournament and led the field with 10 walks. On the mound, he finished with a 1.86 ERA in three appearances. He was named tournament MVP and listed as a pitcher and DH on the All-Tournament team.
He wasn’t doing everything just on the baseball field; he also fulfilled his captaincy duties and was a tremendous clubhouse leader. Before the tournament even started, Ohtani was recruiting teammates and cultivating a clubhouse culture of belief. Lars Nootbaar was the first non-Japanese-born player to suit up for Samurai Japan, and Ohtani was the first to help the team embrace him.
Before the championship game against Team USA, a lineup loaded with MLB stars and the defending WBC champions, Japan’s captain and icon delivered a final message to his teammates: “Let’s stop admiring them. [Paul] Goldschmidt will be at first base; if you look at center, Mike Trout is there; Mookie Betts is in the outfield. There are players known by anyone who plays baseball. For just one day ... if you admire them, you can’t surpass them. We came here to surpass them, to reach the top. For one day, let’s throw away our admiration for them and just think about winning.”
The respective juggernauts took the field at loanDepot park in Miami and fans were in store for an instant classic. Entering the top of the ninth, Team Japan had a 3-2 lead. To close the game they turned to Ohtani, who had just legged out an infield single in the bottom of the seventh. Ohtani walked Jeff McNeil but just two pitches later, he got his future teammate, Mookie Betts, to ground into a double play. The championship came down to the long-anticipated heavyweight bout between then-teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, two of the biggest names in the history of the sport. This magical tournament got the matchup it deserved for its finale.
After ball one, Ohtani threw four straight triple-digit pitches and the count was full. An 87 mph sweeper left Ohtani’s fingers and veered off the plate as Trout swung and missed. Ohtani screamed and leapt off the mound. He threw his glove and cap into the air as his teammates mobbed him on the mound. Japan was back on top of the baseball world.
Ohtani’s cap that he used throughout the tournament is now preserved at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
March 21, 2023: The Strikeout Seen ‘Round the World.
The cap Shohei Ohtani wore when Team Japan clinched the @WBCBaseball title in dramatic fashion is part of the Hall of Fame’s permanent collection. pic.twitter.com/iaRv5YJh5C— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) March 21, 2025
Joshua Mandel was a Data Analytics intern in the 2026 Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development
