Home Baseball Japanese Superstar Shohei Ohtani Aims to Lead Team Japan to World Baseball Classic Glory Once Again

Japanese Superstar Shohei Ohtani Aims to Lead Team Japan to World Baseball Classic Glory Once Again

Baseball — 05/29/2024

The baseball player wants to help the Samurai Japan win a fourth WBC championship in 2026. He recorded the game’s last out against former MLB colleague Mike Trout to help Japan win the 2023 WBC title.

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For many Japanese fans and players, the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) final out will always be remembered.

The amazing two-way player Shohei Ohtani entered the game in relief and faced Mike Trout, his MLB teammate at the time, before finishing with a strikeout.

Ohtani himself aims to replicate this image in two years, as the host locations for the 2026 competition have been confirmed.

Ohtani stated on Monday, May 27, that “it’s important to do my best to stay among the top players first, in order to get picked.”

The 2026 World Boxing Championship final will take place at Miami, Florida’s LoanDepot Park, same like in 2023.

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LoanDepot Park, Minute Maid Stadium in Houston, Texas; Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the Tokyo Dome, where Japan will play its group in front of home supporters, are scheduled to host group-stage matches.

Softball and baseball will be added back to the Olympic sports roster for Los Angeles in 2028.

Ohtani, who is currently with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is still a deadly batter at the plate despite not pitching this season while he heals from elbow surgery.

The Japanese designated hitter is slightly ahead of his Dodgers teammate and 2023 WBC rival, Mookie Betts, in the MLB hitting average rankings (.336).

Though he is still not throwing from an elevated mound, Ohtani informed the reporters he is making progress in his rehabilitation, throwing from a distance about equivalent to the pitcher’s mound.

WBC win the best moment of my life, says Japan's Ohtani | Reuters

Ohtani stated, “It was roughly sixty feet (18.3 meters) last week.” Six feet, six inches is the typical distance between the pitching mound and the back of home plate. “The speed reached eighty miles per hour. The quantity and distance between pitches, in my opinion, will gradually increase.

“I have to go one step at a time at this point. I won’t worry about it and will proceed appropriately.”