Japan: King of Baseball

Ichiro Suzuki and his less-famous Japanese countrymen beat Cuba 10-6 in the World Baseball Classic final on Monday, ripping a page out of Cuba's scorebook by winning a major international tournament.

Cuba had won 22 of 24 games in international competition and dominated the globe for decades, but they cracked at the worst possible time against a team which qualified for the semifinals only after the United States was upset by Mexico.

In the Classic's inaugural final, Japan led 6-1, Cuba rallied to within one to make it exciting, then Japan ran away for good with four runs at the top of the ninth.

"To be honest, I never imagined we'd get there. We had a great team, the best," Ichiro, interviewed by Japanese television crew, said. "I hope we showed everyone what a great sport baseball is." (Mainichi)






I have never seen a more exciting baseball game ever. This is amazing, especially witnessing this in Japan. Winning the WBC couldn't have come at a better time, with the horrendous performance at the Torino olympics.



The most impressive play had to be when #52 Kawasaki was sliding into home plate and touching the base with his hand between the Cuban catchers legs and avoiding the tag, making it the winning run and the turning point of the game.