2023 World Baseball Classic championship

The 2023 World Baseball Classic championship was the final game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic, a men's international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB). The game was played on March 21, 2023, at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, United States,^[1] between hosts and defending champion United States and two-time champion Japan. Japan won 3–2 to earn a record-extending third World Baseball Classic title. Shohei Ohtani won the most valuable player award.

2023 World Baseball Classic championship

LoanDepot Park, Miami
United States Japan 2 3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E United States 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 9 1 Japan 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 3 5 0
Date	March 21, 2023 (2023-03-21)
Venue	LoanDepot Park
City	Miami
MVP	Shohei Ohtani ( Japan)
Attendance	36,098
Time of game	19:00 EDT
Television	Multiple
← 2017 World Baseball Classic championship 2026 →

Unlike in 2009, 2013 and 2017, the U.S. lineup attracted distinguished players and attracted a lot of hype for the final.^[2] The U.S. manager credited Mike Trout, a three-time major league MVP, committed to the team early (in July 2022) and made it easier to convince others to join.^[2]

Road to the championship

Further information: 2023 World Baseball Classic

Japan won the 2006 and 2009 editions of the WBC.^[3] The United States was the victor of the 2017 WBC.^[4]

In 2023, Japan won all four games in Pool B^[5] and defeated Italy in the quarterfinals.^[6] Japan defeated Mexico in the semifinals to advance to the championship.^[7]

The United States went 3–1 in Pool C, advancing as the pool's runner-up.^[8] The United States defeated Venezuela in the quarterfinals^[9] and Cuba in the semifinals.^[10]

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

United States		Round	Japan
Opponent	Result	Group stage	Opponent	Result
Great Britain	6–2 (H)	Match 1	China	8–1 (H)
Mexico	5–11 (H)	Match 2	South Korea	13–4 (H)
Canada	12–1 (7) (H)	Match 3	Czech Republic	10–2 (H)
Colombia	3–2 (A)	Match 4	Australia	7–1 (A)
Pool C runners-up Pos Team v t e Pld W L RF RA PCT GB Qualification 1   Mexico 4 3 1 27 14 .750^[a] — Advance to quarterfinals Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic 2   United States (H) 4 3 1 26 16 .750^[a] — 3   Canada 4 2 2 27 30 .500 1 Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic 4   Great Britain 4 1 3 18 31 .250^[b] 2 5   Colombia 4 1 3 12 19 .250^[b] 2 Source: MLB Rules for classification: Tiebreakers (H) Host Notes: Mexico defeated USA, 11–5 Great Britain defeated Colombia, 7–5		Final standings	Pool B winners Pos Team v t e Pld W L RF RA PCT GB Qualification 1   Japan (H) 4 4 0 38 8 1.000 — Advance to quarterfinals Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic 2   Australia 4 3 1 29 19 .750 1 3   South Korea 4 2 2 40 26 .500 2 Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic 4   Czech Republic 4 1 3 16 30 .250 3 5   China 4 0 4 10 50 .000 4 Source: MLB Rules for classification: Tiebreakers (H) Host
Opponent	Result	Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Venezuela	9–7 (A)	Quarterfinals	Italy	9–3 (H)
Cuba	14–2 (H)	Semifinals	Mexico	6–5 (H)

Game

Summary

The starting pitchers for the championship game were Shōta Imanaga for Japan and Merrill Kelly for the United States.^[11] Trea Turner hit a solo home run for the United States off of Imanaga in the top of the second inning. Turner tied Lee Seung-yuop (South Korea) in 2006 tournament for the most home-runs in a single WBC tournament. Munetaka Murakami tied the game with a solo home run off of Kelly in the bottom of the second inning. Japan loaded the bases with singles from Kazuma Okamoto and Sosuke Genda and a walk to Yuhei Nakamura. Aaron Loup relieved Kelly for the United States, and Lars Nootbaar hit a run batted in ground out. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Kazuma Okamoto hit a solo home run for Japan off of Kyle Freeland to give Japan its final run.^[12]

Both teams remained scoreless from there until the top of the eighth inning, when Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run for the United States off of Yu Darvish. Leading 3–2 in the ninth inning, Japan used their designated hitter, Shohei Ohtani, to record the save. Ohtani struck out Mike Trout, his teammate with the Los Angeles Angels, to win the tournament for Japan.^[12] Ohtani won the WBC's most valuable player award after batting .435 and a 1.86 earned run average for the tournament.^[13]

Details

Linescore

 

Shohei Ohtani, the most valuable player of the tournament

March 21, 2023 19:00 EDT (UTC−4) at LoanDepot Park in Miami, United States

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
United States	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	9	0
Japan	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	X	3	5	0
WP: Shōta Imanaga (1–0)   LP: Merrill Kelly (0–1)   Sv: Shohei Ohtani (1) Home runs: USA: Trea Turner (5), Kyle Schwarber (2) JPN: Munetaka Murakami (1), Kazuma Okamoto (2) Attendance: 36,098 Umpires: HP – Lance Barksdale, 1B – John Tumpane, 2B – Edward Pinales, 3B – Ramiro Alfaro, LF – Jong Chui Park, RF – Quinn Wolcott Boxscore

Boxscore

United States' Batting^[14] Player Position AB R H RBI BB SO LOB BA Mookie Betts RF 5 0 2 0 0 0 3 .313 Mike Trout CF 5 0 1 0 0 3 3 .296 Paul Goldschmidt 1B 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 .280 Nolan Arenado 3B 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .385 Kyle Schwarber DH 3 1 1 1 1 0 2 .214 Trea Turner SS 4 1 2 1 0 1 2 .214 J. T. Realmuto C 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .500 Cedric Mullins LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .200 Tim Anderson 2B 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 Jeff McNeil 2B (PH) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .111 Bobby Witt Jr. PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500   United States' Pitching^[14] Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Merrill Kelly 11⁄3 3 2 2 2 1 1 8.31 Aaron Loup 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Kyle Freeland 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 3.00 Jason Adam 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 0.00 David Bednar 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.25 Devin Williams 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0.00

Japan's Batting^[14] Player Position AB R H RBI BB SO LOB BA Lars Nootbaar CF–LF 4 0 0 1 0 0 5 .269 Kensuke Kondo RF 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 .346 Shohei Ohtani DH 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 .435 Masataka Yoshida LF 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .409 Taisei Makihara CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 Munetaka Murakami 3B 4 1 1 1 0 2 1 .231 Kazuma Okamoto 1B 4 2 2 1 0 2 0 .333 Tetsuto Yamada 2B 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 .267 Sōsuke Genda SS 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 .250 Yuhei Nakamura C 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 .429   Japan's Pitching^[14] Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Shōta Imanaga 2 4 1 1 0 2 1 3.00 Shosei Togo 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 1.80 Hiroto Takahashi 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 3.00 Hiromi Itoh 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Taisei Ota 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.00 Yu Darvish 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 6.00 Shohei Ohtani 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1.86

References

1. Adler, David (July 7, 2022). "World Baseball Classic 2023 venues, pools announced". MLB.com. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
2. "Why is the US finally treating the World Baseball Classic like a World Cup?". The Guardian. March 6, 2023.
3. "Japan's WBC history: Has Japan ever won a World Baseball Classic championship?". www.sportingnews.com.
4. Perry, Dayn (March 11, 2023). "2023 World Baseball Classic: 5 things to know about Team USA, from a Mike Trout-led offense to the competition". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
5. "Japan-Australia highlights: Ohtani's HR enough for Japan to win". FOX Sports. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
6. "'We see who Shohei is.' How Shohei Ohtani and Japan advanced to WBC semifinals". Los Angeles Times. March 16, 2023.
7. "Japan walks off into Classic final, and 'the world of baseball won'". MLB.com.
8. "Trout lifts United States into WBC quarterfinals". ESPN.com. March 16, 2023.
9. "USA 9–7 Venezuela: World Baseball Classic quarter-finals â€" as it happened | World Baseball Classic". The Guardian. January 31, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
10. Axisa, Mike (March 19, 2023). "Team USA score: U.S. cruises past Cuba to reach World Baseball Classic final as Trea Turner homers twice". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
11. "Japan starting Imanaga over Ohtani or Darvish in WBC final vs. United States". Sportsnet.ca. March 16, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
12. Felt, Hunter (March 21, 2023). "USA v Japan: World Baseball Classic final – live". The Guardian. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
13. Axisa, Mike (March 21, 2023). "World Baseball Classic: Shohei Ohtani awarded WBC MVP after closing out championship in Japan's win over USA". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
14. "United States 2, Japan 3 Final Score (03/21/2023) on MLB Gameday". MLB. Retrieved March 22, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Results, Rosters & Stats