In the history of the World Baseball Classic, no country has more championships than Japan, with two.
They won the first two editions, in 2006 and 2009.
They have a very good chance to add a third title to their shelf.
The team has one of the strongest rosters in the tournament, and there is absolutely no question about that.
Their rotation has Yu Darvish, uber-talented MLB hopefuls Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki…and Shohei Ohtani.
Yes, the Los Angeles Angels star will occupy one of the spots in the rotation while also hitting most of the time.
It will be his first WBC, so he is likely putting on a show.
Shohei is ready for the World Baseball Classic 🇯🇵
#WBC2023 pic.twitter.com/0nDczKW6S2— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) March 8, 2023
He sure looks ready for the tournament.
He has been training for weeks, and has had some impressive showings in exhibition games in Japan.
The Japanese will have the luxury of having a guy capable of hitting 100 mph with a nasty splitter-slider combo on the mound while also hitting 80 home runs in his last two seasons in MLB.
He makes the toughest baseball league in the world look easy with his enormous talent.
Now, he will put that talent on display against some of the best baseball nations on the planet.
The world will get to watch what Ohtani is capable of doing on a baseball field.
One of Ohtani’s dreams is to lift the WBC trophy while wearing his country’s uniform.
Japan will have some really tough foes, such as the United States, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico and others, but their odds are as good as any of them.
NEXT: Xander Bogaerts Is Part Of An Elite WBC Infield
