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In baseball at the Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese national team passed the qualifying league in 1st place in Group A.
The first match of the final tournament “Knockout Stage” will be on August 2nd, and will face the 1st place USA in Group B.
Japan vs USA: Monday, August 2nd, 19: 00-
Masahiro Tanaka is the first pitcher in Japan to pitch in this tournament. In the United States, pitcher Shane Baz will be on the mound.
You can win a gold medal if you win three consecutive games in the final tournament, but there is also a repechage, and even if you lose in the first match, the possibility of a gold medal will not disappear.
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If they win against the United States on the 2nd, Japan will face South Korea in the semi-finals.
If you lose, proceed to the 2nd round repechage and play against the winner of the 1st round repechage, Dominican Republic vs. Israel.
Which player was selected to represent Japan?
The Japanese national team will be led by the 2008 Beijing Olympics 13 years ago.Participated as a playerDirector Atsunori Inaba.
The number of athletes that can be registered at this Olympics24 people.. Only Masahiro Tanaka has been selected to experience the Olympics so far.
Of the 24 pitchers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has the highest ERA in the Pacific League, and Koyo Aoyagi, who has the highest ERA in the Central League, have been selected.
Furthermore, it is encouraging to see Kaima Taira, who set a record of 39 consecutive games without goals, and Ryoji Kuribayashi, who set a record of 22 consecutive games without goals while being a rookie, as closer pitchers.
In the batting team, Japanese professional baseball batters such as Masataka Yoshida, Hayato Sakamoto, and Yuki Yanagita will meet.
In addition, Munetaka Murakami, who is 21 years old and the youngest in the team but has hit 26 home bases in professional baseball this season, has been 8th in the games so far, and players from 1st to 9th are lined up.
Koji Watanabe via Getty Images
American team players
The American team includes Tyler Austin from the DeNA BayStars, Scott McGough from the Yakult Swallows, and Nick Martinez from the SoftBank Hawks.
Austin, who is usually based in Yokohama Stadium, is likely to be a tough opponent as he also hit a home run against Israel on July 30th.
In addition, coach Mike Scioscia, who leads the United States, has been the manager of the Angels, where Shohei Ohtani is enrolled, until 2018, which may be a familiar face to Major League Baseball and Otani fans.
Tokyo Olympic baseball rules
The games of the Tokyo Olympics are the same as regular and baseball games such as professional baseball.9 innings, DH system adopted。
If the victory or defeat is not decided in the 9th inning and it is extended, the attack will be started with a “tie break” that starts with runners on the 1st and 2nd bases.
Also, if you open 15 points in 5 times and 10 points in 7 times, it will be a cold game.
In addition, there is a rule that if there is no runner, the pitcher must throw within 20 seconds of receiving the catcher’s return.
In case of violation, the first warning will be given, and from the second time onward, one ball count will be added to the batter of the opponent team.
In addition, there is a time limit of 30 seconds for going to the coach or pitcher’s coach mound, and 90 seconds for offense and defense changes between pitcher changes and innings.
Gold medal for the first time in 37 years
Japanese baseball boysCurrently ranked No. 1 in the world.. Looking at the other five countries participating in the Olympics, South Korea is third, the United States is fourth, Mexico is fifth, the Dominican Republic is seventh, and Israel is 24th.
baseballWas held as a public competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and the 1988 Seoul Games, and was adopted as a formal competition from the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Since then, it has been held for five consecutive games until the 2008 Beijing Games, but was excluded from the official events at the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
However, at the Tokyo 2020 Games, it returned to the Olympic Games for the first time in 13 years as an additional event proposed by the host city.
The Japanese national team was at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, which was a public competition.Win a gold medalHowever, after becoming a formal competition, he has moved away from the gold medal, with bronze medals at the Barcelona Games, silver medals in Atlanta, and bronze medals in Athens. In the latest Beijing tournament, he lost to the United States in the bronze medal match and could not win the medal.
At the Tokyo 2020 Games held locally, 24 players who usually compete in different teams aim for the gold medal for the first time in 37 years.
* The article will be updated along with the match results.
