Shohei Ohtani and Japan Decimate Taiwan

If anyone still doubted that Japan could compete in the World Baseball Classic, this morning’s rout of Taiwan should’ve done plenty to quell that.

It took approximately three seconds for Japan to make sure everybody knew that its opening contest of the World Baseball Classic against Taiwan was going to be a snoozer. I hadn’t even rubbed all the sleep out of my eyes before it was evident that Japan, with all its MLB and NPB firepower, was going to decimate Taiwan into oblivion via a 13-0 mercy-rule victory in seven innings.

After both sides failed to put up any runs in the first inning – Shohei Ohtani did knock a leadoff double, the beginning of what was a fantastic game for the world’s greatest player – Japan unloaded in the second. Ten runs came across in the frame, a WBC record for most runs in a single inning, half of which were driven in by Ohtani. The greatest chunk of his run production came via a mammoth grand slam – a home run that still boggles my mind with how off balance he was when he hit it – with the other RBI being the result of a scorching single to right field. For anyone familiar with Ohtani, this type of performance on this stage wasn’t surprising. He’s the best baseball player maybe ever – of course he came up when it mattered most for his home country!

It’s pretty amazing how much love the entire nation of Japan has for him. For example, teams usually take batting practice in front of a half-empty crowd – perhaps even entirely empty – before the game starts. When Japan came out for batting practice before its matchup with Taiwan, the entirety of the Tokyo Dome was buzzing and full of anticipation. The attendees wanted to see Ohtani smash baseballs to the heavens, and he happily obliged. With every home run, the crowd oohed and aahed. He’s the only player in the world that gets this type of reception, and it’s only amplified when he returns home.

I know there’s a good amount of folks in the U.S. who have soured on Ohtani’s greatness. That’s understandable given that he resides on a Los Angeles Dodgers squad that’s the villain of all of baseball at the moment. And while people like to watch athletes be amazing, there’s a certain limit that we’re willing to accept before we start to root against that person. It’s just human nature, and it’s rarely personal. Still, it’s hard not to appreciate just how tantalizing a player Ohtani is, especially when he’s in front of his home fans. While Americans might not adore him as much as they did when he first came over to the States – and perhaps I’m just speaking for myself there – the Japanese people love and respect him more than anybody else in the world. If Ohtani ran for elected office in Japan, he’d almost definitely win.

Ohtani’s performance is pretty much the sole talking point from what was otherwise a tough game to watch. Japan’s lineup was too much for Taiwan’s already overworked pitching staff to handle, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto – while not his peak self – was more than good enough to handle a Taiwanese lineup that has yet to put a single run on the board throughout this tournament so far. Perhaps a 13-0 blowout wasn’t something that could’ve been predicted, but this result is nonetheless not all that surprising.

Japan has won three out of the first five World Baseball Classic tournaments, and based on its effort against Taiwan in the opener it appears that it could be well on its way toward putting another trophy in the trophy case. Sure, the United States and the Dominican Republic will have something to say about that, but there’s no other country in the world that plays better on the international stage than Japan. This is what they live for. It’s evident by the way the players and coaches carry themselves on and off the field during the tournament and by the way the fans wrap their arms around their team (the atmosphere in the Tokyo Dome was absolutely bonkers).

This might all be an overreaction to just one game, obviously, but how can one not be excited for what Japan can do in the WBC after witnessing its destruction of Taiwan’s dignity? Taiwan is no slouch – it beat Japan in the WBSC Premier12 gold medal game in 2024 – but just doesn’t have the same firepower that the Japanese have to offer. Even then, the gap between the two isn’t 13 runs! But that was not the reality in Tokyo today, and that’s all that matters.

Moving forward, Taiwan’s chances of making it out of Pool C and into the knockout round are dead. At 0-2, it’s already lost the tiebreaker to Australia and Japan, and its run differential is in the absolute toilet. For Japan, its dreams and aspirations are right in front of it. All it needs to do is take care of business the rest of the way – it could push all its chips in for the game against Korea – and move on to single-elimination play.

But the macro isn’t really the story from this game. It’s Ohtani. It’s Yamamoto. It’s Japanese baseball as a whole. It’s the love and passion that Taiwanese fans have for their team and country. In victory and defeat, both sides continued to show why baseball is such a wonderful thing, and why I adore it so much.

I’m going to go take a nap now. These 4 a.m. wakeups are kicking my butt already.