The St. Louis Cardinals had a total of 17 players competing in the World Baseball Classic this spring.
Five of them were on hand for the championship game on Tuesday night.
Lars Nootbaar suited up for Team Japan, while Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Adam Wainwright, and Miles Mikolas suited up for Team USA.
Japan ultimately came out on top, with Shohei Ohtani striking out his fellow Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout to secure the title.
However, there was no animosity between the two teams after the game.
In fact, Gateway Grinders, a St. Louis sports fan page, posted a brief video on Twitter of Nootbaar and Goldschmidt sharing a hug after the game.
Goldschmidt and Nootbaar hug it out #STLCards pic.twitter.com/ohujZ2C7In
— Gateway Grinders (@gatewaygrinders) March 22, 2023
At the end of the day, sportsmanship is important, and the lighter side of the game needs to be shown.
Clearly, there is no love lost between Goldschmidt and Nootbaar, who will travel back to Jupiter, Florida and reunite with their Cardinals teammates.
Sometimes, wholesome moments like this are needed.
Both players represented their teams well and helped carry them all the way to the final game.
And while Japan came out on top, dethroning Team USA as the defending champions, it was still quite an exciting tournament full of fun twists and turns and some legendary performances.
With the Classic now over, Goldschmidt, Nootbaar, and the rest of the Cardinals competing in the tournament can get back to their mission for the 2023 season, which is to bring World Series title No. 12 back to the Gateway City.
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