For the 2nd consecutive time, the team from Japan took home the WBC title when they defeated their arch rivals from Korea in a game that needed extra innings to decide the winner. The extra innings came when Korea tied it in the 9th but could not deliver the finishing blow that would had left the defending champions on the field. It would be in the 10th that the legend of Ichiro Suzuki would delivered the big hit that drove in 2 runs giving Japan a 5-3 win and back to back WBC titles.
It was not to be for the scrappy Koreans who were also ousted in the 2006 semis by Japan, and It was Korea's only defeat in that entire tournament, that after beating Japan twice previously. In this tournament they would go on to face each other 5 times, splitting the 1st 4 games which led to this 5th and final confrontation of Asian nations, a true WBC rivalry.
The victory puts Japan in a league of their own when it comes to WBC play, by winning the 1st 2 WBC titles. Now one has to wonder where Japan greatness ranks when speaking of world baseball competition. It use to be that the Cubans were the best in international competition, but move over Cuba, Japan now has that claim for now.
Both Japan & Korean who play similar styles, both well discipline, and both relying on speed and defense. But it was Japan who once again had the edge over their Asian rivals. That edge was visible when you looked at the amount of major league talent that Japan roster had. One thing the rest of the world has found out 1st in 2006, and now in 2009, is that the Koreans can hang with anyone and needs to be taken seriously next time around.
Both Korea and Japan play a National league style of baseball moving runners over, bunting, and great defense. They were always trying to make things happen by applying consist pressure, it was aggressive baseball.
Teams like the USA and the Dominican Republic played that American league style of baseball which is swigging for the fences and waiting for that big inning which for the Dominicans never came, they did little manufacturing. What the Asians teams showed us was how we use to play baseball with plenty of fundelmenthals which is called small ball, because in short tournaments like this, small ball works.
Teams like the Dominican Republic cared very much about the WBC and so did team USA, but the fans base core for the USA found plenty of time to blast the WBC saying was just a glorified exhibition game, while in the Dominican Republic baseball fans took it very serious and wanted nothing more then a title so that they can show their Dominican pride. But the problem was that team Dominican also taught that they could just beat teams like the Netherlands by showing up, and that is not taking it serious.
In the semis, both Korea and Japan showed Venezuela and the United States how to play some serious baseball, 1st it was Korea's beat down of team Venezuela that left the Venezuelans scratching their head after just 2 innings, as Venezuela could not recover the early attack and were left with no answers and a embarrassing lost.
Then in the USA and Japan semis final game, Japan also would go on to dismantle the United States in the end when the pressure was put to the USA's defense when errors led to their elimination making it an all Asian finals. Teams like the USA, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, who were consider better to many because of their major league filled rosters, fell well short in the fundamentals department and relied to much on that American League style of play. I have to say Japan were just better defensively, and played the game with more unity then any team in the tournament, they formed like Voltron and always seem to have that mental edge on their opponents, they played smart and were always ready to execute.
This is the way you should always play when representing your country, and if the Dominicans want to improve and do better in 2013, then they need to follow this lead.
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