Led by incomparable Shohei Ohtani, Japan beats USA, 3-2, to win a third World Baseball Classic

MIAMI — After five innings Tuesday night, with Japan clutching a two-run lead for all the World Baseball Classic marbles, Shohei Ohtani walked to the bullpen. As Japan loaded the bases in the sixth, he jogged to the dugout for a possible at-bat. When the rally fizzled, he returned to the bullpen and got loose, then beat out an infield single in the seventh inning before warming up again.

How’s that for drama? And for incontrovertible proof that Major League Baseball absolutely, positively needs Ohtani in the postseason.

One night after putting Japan in the championship game against the United States with a leadoff double to key a ninth-inning rally, Ohtani recorded the last three outs — including a game-ending strikeout of Angels teammate Mike Trout on a hellacious slider — to clinch the title. The Japanese outlasted the Americans, 3-2, in a thrill-a-minute finale before 36,098 fans to capture their third WBC crown in the fifth installment of the tournament.

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And they were victorious because they have Ohtani, a two-way sensation who impacts a game unlike any player the sport has ever seen.

“That was pretty cool by him closing out that game,” said Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, who continued his WBC tear for Team USA with a homer in the second inning. “Everyone knows how hard this sport is in general, and then he’s hitting 3-hole and the best pitcher and closer for them as well. It says a lot about how good he is. He’s a special guy.”

Team USA’s Phillies contingent did its part to defend the 2017 title. Turner opened a 1-0 lead with his fourth homer in three games in the knockout round. Kyle Schwarber went deep in the eighth inning against Yu Darvish, echoing his titanic third-deck blast off Darvish last year in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

Turner, Schwarber, and J.T. Realmuto combined to go 18-for-49 with seven homers in the tournament. Turner hit five home runs, tying a single-tournament record set in 2006 by South Korea’s Seung Yuop Lee.

But the incomparable Ohtani was the star of all stars. The sport has never seen anything like him. Last season, he hit 34 homers and posted a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts for the Angels. He’s eligible for free agency after this season (at age 29) and is destined to be baseball’s first $500 million player.

And he may be a bargain.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Trea Turner, the WBC’s brightest star, makes his high school coach flash back to the beginning

Ohtani’s late-inning laps between the dugout and bullpen ended with him coming on to pitch the ninth inning. He issued a leadoff walk to Jeff McNeil but got Mookie Betts to ground into a double play to set up the dream matchup with Trout, the best non-two-way player in the world.

Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama was coy about his pitching plans before the game. He made the surprising decision to start lefty Shota Imanaga instead of Darvish, a Japanese pitching icon. He didn’t rule out using Darvish or Ohtani in relief, but indicated he would check with the Padres and Angels, respectively, before deploying them out of the bullpen.

Asked before the game if he was eager to see Trout face Ohtani, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa put his fandom aside.

“No, I’m good if he doesn’t pitch,” DeRosa said, drawing laughter.

Ohtani started Trout with a slider out of the strike zone, then threw a 100 mph fastball by him. Trout swung through another heater. With the count full, Ohtani threw a sweeping slider that Trout missed.

”Everyone wanted to see the matchup. Obviously, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” Trout said. “He won round one. To be able to come out of the bullpen, as a starter, that’s Sho-time.”

Said Turner: “I think everyone’s pictured that matchup for the last however many years. For me, I wanted to win. Mike looked pretty locked in. I thought there was a chance that he could do something because he’s one of the best players in the world. But Shohei looked really good out there.”

It was a fitting culmination to the Shohei Show.

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Ohtani started Japan’s semifinal-winning rally against Mexico with a leadoff double in the ninth inning Monday night. He flailed his arms and screamed to the dugout as he pulled into second base. It was an uncharacteristic show of emotion from Ohtani.

“He gave us all the power and emotion,” Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said through an interpreter.

Motivation, too. Ohtani delivered a speech in the clubhouse before the championship game in which he directed his teammates to “stop admiring” Team USA’s star-studded roster, according to a translation provided on Twitter by a Los Angeles Times reporter.

When Ohtani’s on your side, it’s easy to not be intimidated.

“It almost seems like I’m shortchanging him saying ‘once in a generation.’ It’s lifetime,” said Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who played for Japan. “The first day I met him he was great, a super nice guy. Then he threw a bullpen, probably hit 100. Then we went in the cage. He was hitting balls 118 [mph]. First game, hits two home runs, and then I watch him squat 400, 500 pounds.

“You can’t make this up. He gets off the squat rack, and then he’s joking around. It’s inhuman stuff. I’ve never obviously seen anything like it.”

If the WBC proved anything, it’s that baseball needs to see as much of Ohtani as possible.