WBC = World Baseball Classic, where many memorable scenes were born.
Looking back on the history of the Japanese national team.
[1st 2006 / Winner]
The WBC was established as a tournament to decide the best baseball player in the world.
Sadaharu Oh led the Japanese national team in the first tournament.
While the participation of major league players has been attracting attention, the Japanese national team has two major leaguers, Ichiro and pitcher Akinori Otsuka, as well as pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Koji Uehara, who are representatives of Japanese professional baseball. was also elected as a member.
Japan finished the first round in 2nd place with 2 wins and 1 loss.
In the second round, we faced the United States, who had star players in the first match.
The 8th inning was a close game with a score of 3-3, and there was an impressive scene in this tournament.
It was thought that Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who touched up with one out and the bases loaded, returned home, but the United States protested that Nishioka's start was early, and he was not able to win.
In the end, Japan suffered a goodbye loss in this match.
After that, they lost to South Korea, etc., and in the second round, they had 1 win and 2 losses.
Although the breakthrough was in doubt, the three teams were tied with 1 win and 2 losses, and as a result, Japan, which had the lowest "percentage conceded" (total points conceded divided by defensive innings), came in 2nd place and qualified for the semi-finals.
In the semi-final match against South Korea, Kosuke Fukudome scored a comfortable two-run home run.
We advanced to the final against Cuba.
In the final, starting pitcher Matsuzaka pitched well, giving up one run in the fourth inning, and in the 9th inning with a 1-point lead, Ichiro hit and second-base runner Munenori Kawasaki called it "God's hand" to avoid the catcher's touch. He expanded his lead by showing good running bases.
Japan won 10-6 and became the first champion.
[1st Round]
▽Champion: Japan
▽Second Place: Cuba
▽Best 4: South Korea / Dominican Republic
[2nd 2009 / Winner]
Japan, who was aiming for consecutive titles, was led by Coach Hara Tatsunori.
Japan's national team consisted of five major league players: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kenji Jojima, Akinori Iwamura, Kosuke Fukudome, and Ichiro.
Japan finished the first round in second place behind South Korea.
In the second round that followed, they lost to Korea Rep. and went to the repechage match, but they won from there and advanced to the semi-finals.
In the semi-final match against the United States, starting pitcher Matsuzaka gave up two goals in the middle of the fifth inning, showing tenacious pitching. Did.
Their opponent in the final was Korea Rep., who had faced each other for the fifth time in this tournament.
Japan entered the 9th inning with a 1-point lead of 3-2, but pitcher Darvish gave up a goal to tie the score, and the game went into overtime.
And 10 times extension.
The key player was Ichiro, who hadn't been feeling well in this tournament.
With a chance of two-out second base and third base, Ichiro hit a two-point timely hit that rebounded Korean pitcher Lim Chang-young to the center and won the game.
Pitcher Darvish kept a clean sheet and won 5 to 3, achieving the second straight victory.
The image of Darvish roaring after striking out the last batter, and the scene of Ichiro exclaiming with excitement after the game, "I have one," are still remembered as iconic scenes of the WBC to this day. It is
[2nd]
▽Champion: Japan (2nd time in 2 consecutive tournaments)
▽Runner-up: South Korea
▽Best 4: USA / Venezuela
[3rd 2013 / Best 4]
Former Hiroshima manager Koji Yamamoto was entrusted with the team aiming for the third consecutive victory.
In this tournament, there were no players from the major leagues, and the representative members consisted of only Japanese professional baseball players such as Masahiro Tanaka and Kenta Maeda.
Finished 2nd in the 1st round.
In the second round, the first match against Taiwan, they were chasing after each other, but Hirokazu Ibata's timely hit in the 9th inning equalized the score.
After that, they beat the Netherlands twice in a row and advanced to the semi-finals.
Puerto Rico in the semi-finals.
Although starting pitcher Maeda pitched well, giving up 1 run in the 5th inning, the batting line failed to score, leading to 3 runs.
The chance came in the 8th inning, when Ibata scored a timely hit to return a run, and then a one-out first base and second base was a crucial match.
However, an unexpected error occurred in this scene.
Second-base runner Ibata stopped at the start, while first-base runner Seiichi Uchikawa made the start and rushed to second base and was out.
As a result of this double steal failure, Japan was eliminated in the semi-finals with a score of 1-3, failing to win the tournament for the third time in a row.
The winner of this tournament was the Dominican Republic, which had a lot of big league players and won all eight games.
[3rd Round]
▽Winner: Dominican Republic (first winner)
▽Runner-up: Puerto Rico
▽Best 4: Japan/Netherlands
[4th 2017 / Best 4]
Coach Kokubo Yuki was in charge of aiming for the first victory in two tournaments.
Although he had no experience as a professional coach until then, he was appointed because of his strong leadership during his active career.
Nippon Ham Shohei Otani was out of the squad due to injury, but Norichika Aoki was the only major league player to participate, as well as Giants pitcher Tomoyuki Kanno, DeNA's Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, and Hiroshima's Suzuki. Seiya and other players were named as members.
The first round won all three games and broke through.
In the second round that followed, they defeated the Netherlands, Cuba, and Israel to advance to the semi-finals with six straight wins.
In the semi-finals, they faced the United States, and while starting pitcher Sugano pitched well, giving up one run in the sixth inning, the batters struggled to beat the opposing pitcher.
In the 6th inning, Ryosuke Kikuchi hit a solo home run to tie the score, but in the 8th inning, the United States won by one point and lost the close game 1-2, losing the semi-finals for the second consecutive tournament.
In this competition, the United States achieved its long-awaited first victory in the fourth competition.
[4th]
▽Champion: USA (first win)
▽Second place: Puerto Rico
▽Best 4: Japan/Netherlands
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