The appointment viewing climaxed, improbably and perfectly, with a special-effects confrontation from the closing minutes of a Phase 3 Marvel movie: Shohei Ohtani pumping triple-digit heat and a scale-breaking sweeper past sometime-teammate Mike Trout in a pulse-pounding passing of the GOAT torch.īaseball can’t possibly baseball better than that. And all of the thrilling throat-clearing culminated in what almost seemed like scripted rising action, which ushered us from an incredible quarterfinal between Team USA and Venezuela, to an exquisite semifinal between Mexico and Japan, to a tight USA-Japan final-maybe the most- watched baseball game ever. We savored an environment so raucous and intense that even buttoned-up baseballers who don’t normally play loud amped themselves up to match the emotions of their foes and fans. We drank in a rainbow of body types, pitch speeds, and batting stances.
We saw Secret Wars–style superstar teamups and matchups that couldn’t take place beyond WBC Battleworld. This was a joyous, two-week whirlwind of a tournament that fully lived up to its name, from the global participation to the all-time-great games. The World Baseball Classic that concluded on Tuesday night can’t be topped by mere Major League Baseball. So it’s bittersweet to break it to baseball fans: Folks, it’s all downhill from here. The loss column is empty, mathematical elimination is many months away, and even the most pessimistic playoff probabilities hover above 0.0. Last season’s slate is wiped clean, and for even the worst teams, the future is still unspoiled.
The leadup to MLB Opening Day is traditionally a time to dream about things being better than before.
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