UTK Special 1/12/24

The Imanaga Emergence

The Championship game of the 2024 World Baseball Classic was just that - an instant classic. For Japan’s “Samurai” club, this was a chance to once again show just how good they were and how their talent and togetherness could trump the star power of the US. It was an all-hands game, finishing with one of the great baseball battles of all time as Shohei Ohtani blew one past Mike Trout for the win.

Ohtani got the famous moment and his leadership helped cement his legacy even more, with his “don’t worship them” comments going super-viral in Japan. That moment alone, one agent told me, made him an assured $500m player, though of course he famously got more.

What people forget is that it wasn’t Ohtani, or Yu Darvish, or any of the great Japanese pitchers that started the game. Some was schedule, but Team Japan didn’t hesitate to use Shota Imanaga as the starter. He went two innings, giving up a run to a monster Trea Turner homer, but leaving with the lead and the win.