On Tuesday night, March 21, 2023, Japan brought home a victory, as they won World Baseball Classic championship against team USA. The game ended with a final score of 3-2. Japan secured the win, when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout. Although Ohtani and Trout represented two different countries in the WBC, coincidentally they are both on the same team in the major leagues, the Los Angeles Angels. These two outstanding players going head to head really drew in the crowd, as Japan and the U.S. are also some of the strongest producers of baseball players.

With this victorious win, Japan making history again for the country winning the WBC for the third time, following a win in 2006 and 2009, was not the only notorious moment of the WBC. On Tuesday night, Japan averaged about 5.2 million people tuning in to watch this match up against team USA. This playoff between USA and Japan has become the most watched out of all the previous classic games.

The World Baseball Classic and this win for Japan, that drew in baseball fans all over was the perfect setup to get fans excited for opening day and the rest of the 2023 season. These players from all different teams through out the league came together to represent their countries. Now it’s time for them to go and defend their major league cities.