WBC: The Real MVP

[Gulliver]

Before moving to Japan I had never seen a WBC game, or even heard of the tournament for that matter. I like playing baseball but find watching it boring. Even while living in Japan neither my spouse nor I were that interested in the games. Until this year…The Idolized draw of Ohtani was too much for my Japanese spouse to resist. As a result I was forced to watch every game while observing the spectacle of her school-girl excitement whenever he (or Nootbaar) came up to bat.

However, the more I watched the more I enjoyed. What did I see? There were a couple of slightly chubby guys on TV that were seen as respected team members and not bumbling comedians. Being of about the same size dimensions as these guys I found myself secretly rooting for them. In a country where being even a couple of kilos overweight is cause for great consternation, I found this very refreshing.

Then in the one of the semis, against all odds, the decidedly chunky Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run double in the ninth inning clearing away for Japan to play the US- an undeniable heart stopping drama (not to mention his solo homer that cinched the final).

So in the end, the WBC actually left me feeling a bit more hopeful (and good about my body image). What did you like/dislike about the WBC?

[sutebayashi]

I had never been much into baseball (not a thing where I come from), even through prior editions when Japan did well, but for me the key difference recently is Ohtani.
He has made baseball interesting to watch, for some reason. Even though the Angels are a losing team, I’m sure we’ll be watching them a lot again this year, because Ohtani is enjoyable to watch.

I imagine that Nootbaar’s matches will also get airtime this year too. I had never heard of him until WBC, not being a huge baseball fan, but my son’s lady soccer coach is smitten with him, so for sure I think they will carry his games on tv this season! Darvish’s matches got airtime last year too, but his pitching didn’t really stand out during this tournament.