

"As a baseball fan, everybody wanted to see it," Trout said. Though they stopped short of the plate, it was as though they were presaged to meet there eventually.
MIKE TROUT FULL
When they did, a great baseball game broke out, full of matchups between elite hitters and pitchers, featuring mistake-free defense, ever ready to tilt in either team's favor.Īt the beginning of the night, Ohtani led his team down the third-base line holding the Japanese flag, while Trout did the same along the first-base line with the Stars and Stripes. The reigning Olympic gold medalists arrived ran roughshod through pool play and the quarterfinals, hopeful they would meet the powerful Team USA, with its countless All-Stars and billion-dollar lineup, in the final. 1-ranked team in international baseball is nicknamed, clinched a WBC final spot Monday night with a breathtaking walk-off win against Mexico. The possibility of the moment emerged immediately after Samurai Japan, as the No. They are all-timers, the best of the best, and the crowd of 36,058 at LoanDepot Park, accompanied by tens of millions of viewers around the globe, witnessed the mathematically improbable turn real then metamorphose into something even better. The two aren't just generational players. "I believe this is the best moment in my life," said Ohtani, the 28-year-old two-way player who by sheer force wrested away the title of best player alive from Trout, whose grip on it seemed unbreakable. In a tournament that had everything, a three-week sprint that brought the intensity and stakes of October baseball to March, it was only fitting that the dream scenario played out in the most dramatic of fashions.

Three minutes later, when the at-bat of a lifetime ended, Ohtani was mobbed by his Samurai Japan teammates, the new World Baseball Classic champions, and Trout was skulking back to the Team USA dugout, having swung through a frisbee slider on a full count that cemented Japan's 3-2 victory Tuesday night. When this was over, they would again be Los Angeles Angels teammates, but in this moment, this perfect moment, they were foes. In the batter's box stood Mike Trout, and on the pitcher's mound was Shohei Ohtani. MIAMI - The two best baseball players in the world's eyes locked for a split second, long enough to acknowledge each other and the sheer improbability of what was happening. MLB, World Baseball Classic, Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani fans Mike Trout for final out as Japan wins WBC
MIKE TROUT UPGRADE
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