Shohei Ohtani’s 164 km, Nootvar’s back home, Darvish’s relief pitch.
All of this received thunderous applause and cheers from the 41,723 spectators at the Tokyo Dome. The heat of the ground is eventually transmitted to the audience. That Ohtani roars every time he throws a pitch, and at bat he attempts a safety bunt to get to base. It was supposed to be the WBC quarter-final match against Italy, which would be the end if the loss was that important… However, from the middle stage of the match, when the match was leading by 5 points, the stadium was filled with excitement and euphoria rather than the sense of victory and tension. be.
You can really experience Ohtani’s dual wielding, you can witness 36-year-old Darvish pitching in Japan, is that the rumored Peppermill Performance? Tokyo Dome at 9:30 p.m. on March 16. Nootbar… No, “Tacchan”, why don’t you defeat the stick with me? It’s close to everyone’s favorite Shonen Jump-ism of “Friendship, Effort, and Victory” that goes beyond the boundaries of teams, where rivals until yesterday become friends and aim for the top.
Until now, it was a middle school of “World Koshien”
Until now, Samurai Japan has had a sense of tragedy and urgency. Although Ichiro and Daisuke Matsuzaka won the championship for the second time in a row, there were no big names in the world after the third time, and the atmosphere was like a mid-level school challenging the “World Koshien” in small baseball. But not this time. Starting with Darvish’s remark before the tournament, “It’s not like I’m going to war, I’m too arrogant.” is. The Japanese national team in past tournaments lost to South Korea (2006 and 2009) and Cuba (2013) in the first round, and had a deadly battle with Taiwan (2013) and the Netherlands (2017) in the second round. Although they struggled with close matches and barely advanced to the finals, it was the first time for them to advance to the semi-finals in the United States with a lead of 6 points or more in all games like this tournament.
Perhaps because of this, it seems that fans are more relaxed than ever before and are genuinely enjoying baseball. The joy of being able to see Shohei Ohtani, a player who will go down in baseball history, at the height of his 28-year-old career in Japan. At the Tokyo Dome, the figure of the uniform number 16 who silently closes up while the CM in which he appears is flowing in the hall. The audience followed his every move with smartphone cameras and binoculars. Considering that when Ichiro participated in the 2009 tournament, many spectators watched the game with one-segment mobile phones in one hand, baseball is also a mirror that reflects the times. His unconventional flying distance in batting practice made the front page of sports papers, and he had an overwhelming presence that even his opponents wanted a sign of dual wielding. For example, during the World Cup soccer match against Argentina’s Lionel Messi, the opposing team’s players wanted autographs and uniforms during the match, and Shohei Otani was a superstar at that level in the Tokyo round.
