WBC Team Preview: Japan
Team Samurai Japan returns 1o players from the group that rejoiced when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic in perhaps the most iconic moment in the tournament’s history.
Oct 17, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) hits a solo home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the seventh inning of game four of the NLCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Notable Players
Ohtani, who fanned Trout with no one on base to secure the 3-2 victory, is back, but he won’t pitch this time. The MVP of the 2023 WBC will lead a formidable offense that will include Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs, Masataka Yoshida of the Red Sox and a pair of NPB stars who signed with MLB teams this offseason. Munetaka Murakami will play for the White Sox after hitting 265 home runs over eight years in the NPB, including a career-high 56 in 2022. Kazuma Okamoto will play for Toronto after posting a .992 OPS in the NPB last season.
Reigning World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will lead the pitching staff, which will include Yusei Kikuchi (Angels) and Tomoyuki Sugano (Orioles).
Notable Coaches
Hirokazu Ibata will be managing Japan in the WBC for the first time. He was a coach for the Yomiuri Giants from 2016-2018 and a middle infielder in the NPB from 1998 to 2015. Yu Darvish, out for the season after UCL repair surgery, will be an advisor.
WBC History
The defending champs also won the first WBC in 2006 and repeated in 2009. The other WBC champs are the Dominican Republic (2013) and the United States (2017). Japan lost in the semifinals in the two WBCs where it didn’t win the title. (Aside, three WBC MVPs have played for the Mets: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Robinson Cano and Marcus Stroman.)
Pool
Japan will have home-field advantage in Pool C, with games in the Tokyo Dome. Korea is expected to be its toughest test in pool play. Chinese Taipei, Australia and Czechia will try to stun the world. Japan’s first game is vs. Chinese Taipei on March 6 at 5 a.m. ET.
If Japan advances out of Pool C, it would face a Pool D team (Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua) in the quarterfinals in Miami.
MMO’s Robert Colonna had Japan at No. 2 in his ranking of all 20 WBC squads, behind the United States.
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