Last night (March 21, 2023) was the final of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The championship match-up was Team USA vs Team Japan in a winner-take-all game for the title. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the game with my life long best friend Herndon and his 12 year old son, Cash. The following post is about why it was The Most Memorable Sporting Event…Of My Lifetime.

It was Monday March 20, around 5:30 p.m. It was the first day of my week-long vacation. My day had been filled with laying around watching Youtube videos and working on a blog post. But what I’d really spent most of the day doing was thinking about baseball. I got a text from my best friend Herndon that said “WBC?”. I wasn’t sure what he was wanting to know so I replied, “What about it?”. He proceeded to text back an image of a stadium map and seating. He wanted to go to The World Baseball Classic Final the next night. I was more than ready. Team USA had already secured a spot in the championship game by soundly defeating Team Cuba 14-2 the previous night. Team Mexico and Team Japan were about to play to see who would advance and face Team USA in the final. Herndon got the tickets and I spent the rest of the evening watching the Mexico vs Japan game with visions of Trout and Ohtani dancing in my head.

Me, Herndon and Cash were going to drive to Loan Depot Park in Miami for the game. An eight hour journey. The three of us weren’t strangers to road trips or big baseball games. We went to Game 3 of the 2021 World Series to see our beloved Braves take on the hated Houston Astros at Truist Park in Atlanta. We all had a great time and made some lifelong memories. I think we were all a little excited about the prospect of doing so again when they came to pick me up from the house Tuesday morning. Japan had defeated Mexico the night before setting up the marquee match up against the USA. Trout vs Ohtani. We spent the time on the ride mostly talking about baseball and life.

We arrived at the stadium a little over an hour before first pitch. I know it’s cliche’, but the atmosphere was truly electric. Everybody in the park was wired in anticipation of the upcoming game and the potential of Shohei Ohtani pitching against Mike Trout. The players are teammates on the Angels and are widely regarded as the two best baseball players on the planet. It was reported that Ohtani would be available to pitch in relief if Japan needed him, so the possibility of that dream match up was actually real. But still, what were the odds of that happening?

We took our seats behind the third base dugout right before the pregame ceremonies. The crowd was going wild as Trout emerged from behind the fence in right field carrying the American flag, leading Team USA onto the field. At the exact same time Ohtani stepped out from left field carrying the Japanese flag, also leading his country’s team onto the field. They walked down the lines and met at home plate as the crowd reached a fever pitch. The game got under way soon after and Team USA would strike first with Trea Turner hitting a solo HR in the top of the 2nd inning. Japan would counter right away in the bottom half of the inning with a lead off HR from two-time NBP MVP, Munetaka Murakami. They would then proceed to load the bases and score another run on a Lars Nootbar groundout before USA could escape the inning. Team Japan would add another run in the bottom of the 4th with another solo HR. This one came off the bat of Kazuma Okamoto and the score was now 3-1 in favor of Japan. The game would not see any more scoring until the top of the 8th inning when Team USA’s Kyle Schwarber took Japan’s Yu Darvish deep to right to pull America within one run heading into the bottom of the 8th. It was at this time Herndon got my attention and pointed out that Ohtani was making his way to Japan’s bullpen to begin warming up to pitch the 9th and potentially close out the game. The crowd in general then caught wind of Ohtani warming up and a buzz started to grow. We were going to get the match up every baseball fan in the world wanted to see as Trout was due up third for Team USA in the 9th. Japan would pose a small scoring threat in their half of the 8th inning before being held off the board. The score remained 3-2 in favor of Japan as Ohtani made his way in from the bullpen to take the mound and attempt to secure the win and the WBC title for Team Japan. Jeff McNeil led off for Team USA and drew a walk before Ohtani induced Mookie Betts to ground into a double play that briefly took the wind out the sails in the crowd. Then Mike Trout was announced and the crowd reached a fever pitch as he dug in the batters box. This was it. The ultimate showdown. Ohtani vs Trout for all the marbles. Everyone in the stadium was on pins and needles and of course the two players would duel to a full count. Ohtani would then unleash a wipeout slider to force a swinging miss from Trout and bring home the title for Team Japan. There was no joy in Mudville.

We’d just witnessed a historic event. A monumental showdown. A dream face off between two of the best baseball players in the history of the game. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it any better. I had an awesome time with my best friend and his son. A memory I’ll no doubt cherish forever. Everyone in and around the stadium was still buzzing about what just occurred and I even ended being interviewed by the Japanese media on the way out of the stadium because the television reporter saw my awesome Trout/Ohtani shirt and wanted to talk to me.

The game itself is extremely likely to end up being the most watched baseball game in history (Japanese viewership numbers are unavailable at the time of writing). It lived up to the hype of the billing and the world got the historic face off everyone wanted. I got to see my two current favorite players squaring off with the Championship on the line, while in attendance with two of my favorite people. And that is why the 2023 World Baseball Classic is the Most Memorable Sporting Event…Of My Lifetime.