Japanese Dream Team Sets Sights on Victory

Murakami Munetaka (Tokyo Yakult Swallows), who in 2022 became the youngest triple crown winner, hits a home run in a friendly match against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome on November 6, 2022. (© Jiji)

Japan playing South Korea at 2009 WBC finals. Ichirō had been off form earlier in the tournament but changed everything with this decisive hit in extra innings on March 23, 2009, in Los Angeles. (© Jiji)

Tournament MVP Matsuzaka Daisuke pitches in a game against the United States in the second WBC on March 22, 2009, in Los Angeles. (© Jiji)

The upcoming WBC will be Darvish Yū’s second. Darvish, here pitching in Philadelphia on October 23, 2022, delivered 16 wins for the San Diego Padres in 2022. (© AFP/Jiji)

Last season Yamamoto Yoshinobu became the first Japanese professional baseballer to become a five-crown winner (adding shutouts and win percentage to the standard triple crown of wins, strikeouts, and earned run average) on two consecutive occasions. Taken in Yokohama during the August 4, 2021, Olympic semifinal game against South Korea. (© AFP/Jiji)

The selection of Nootbaar, a relative unknown in Japan, caused a media frenzy. Taken on August 17, 2022, in St. Louis. (© Kyōdō)