Venezuela upsets Ohtani and Japan
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Japan's World Baseball Classic title defense is over. Saturday night at loanDepot Park in Miami, Venezuela rallied from behind to eliminate Japan ( VEN 8, JPN 5) and advance to the semifinals. Venezuela is one step away from Tuesday's Championship Game and Japan will head home following its worst World Baseball Classic finish ever.
Team Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata announced he will step down from his position after the World Baseball Classic. Japan was eliminated from the WBC on Saturday with an 8-5 loss to Venezuela in the tournament quarterfinals. Samurai Japan built a 5-2 lead after three innings, powered by home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Shota Morishita.
Venezuela manager Omar Lopez had a huge declaration about his team following their win against Japan in the WBC.
Whatever the case, Samurai Japan has a major decision to make between now and then: It has to figure out what it wants to be. Because the Japanese received a definitive verdict on the state of their game in their 8–5 loss to Venezuela in the quarterfinals of the WBC. What they’re doing isn’t working.
After sweeping through Pool C with a 4-0 record, Japan will take on Venezuela in the quarterfinals. Shohei Ohtani and Samurai Japan are the favorites to advance, but these odds are tighter than expected at -162 odds for the chalk and +134 for the South American underdogs.