All eyes were on Shohei Ohtani on Saturday, as they are almost anywhere he goes in the baseball world. He spent time during batting practice with Lars Nootbaar, a teammate during Japan’s World Baseball Classic championship run three years ago. He embraced Miguel Cabrera, a fellow future Hall of Famer who on this night is in the opposing dugout as Venezuela’s hitting coach.
There were roars of applause from the swath of fans that showed up three hours before first pitch with each swing he took during batting practice, cameras capturing his every movement. The cheers came once more as he trotted down the third-base line for player introductions.
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It all hit a crescendo on his first swing in the actual game, when he obliterated a Ranger Suarez slider that barely clipped the bottom of the strike zone and sent it flying 427 feet to center field for a solo home run. Ohtani flipped his bat, turned to his dugout and pushed his hands forward before rounding the bases.
And all eyes were on Ohtani once more — and for one final time — when his high fly ball landed in shortstop Ezequiel Tovar’s glove to seal Venezuela’s 8-5 win and eliminate Japan from the World Baseball Classic in the quarterfinals.
It’s the first time in six iterations of the tournament that Japan, which has won the World Baseball Classic three times, did not advance to at least the semifinals.
It was a somber end for Ohtani and Japan, which entered the tournament as a favorite to repeat and cruised through pool play in Tokyo before facing Venezuela on Saturday.
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Ohtani has had his share of major milestones in this very ballpark, the MLB home of the Miami Marlins.
He led Japan to the World Baseball Classic title here in 2023, winning MVP honors after hit .435 with eight RBI, a home run, four doubles and nine runs scored while posting a 1.86 ERA over 9 2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts. He sealed that tournament with a shutout ninth inning against the United States, capped by striking out then-Angels teammate Mike Trout.
One year later, Ohtani became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season — hitting both marks in the same game against the Marlins on Sept. 19, 2024. In that game he went a perfect 6 for 6, belting out three home runs, stealing two bases and logging 10 RBI.
“I’ve had perhaps the most memorable moments here in my career and this stadium has become one of my favorite stadiums,” Ohtani said that day.
Japan designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (16) reacts after hitting a homerun in the first inning against Venezuela at the World Baseball Classic at loanDept park on Saturday, March 14, 2026.
(PHOTO BY AL DIAZ/adiaz@miamiherald.com)
His first-inning home run on Saturday — his third long ball of the tournament — might not be of the same magnitude as those first two moments, but it was critical at the time.
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Ronald Acuna Jr. had opened scoring in the top of the inning with his own leadoff home run, a 401-foot shot to right-center field off a Yamamoto four-seam fastball over the heart of the plate. It marked the first game in World Baseball Classic history when head team opened with a leadoff home run.
That swing, at least for the moment, equalized things.
“Ohtani’s a global superstar,” Acuna said. “He’s a phenomenon. But that’s part of the game.”
Venezuela then took a brief 2-1 lead after opening the second inning with back-to-back doubles from Ezequiel Tovar and Gleyber Torres against Yamamoto.
Then came Japan’s biggest push, which came to fruition, ironically, because Venezuela chose not to pitch to Ohtani. An intentional walk to the superstar put runners on first and second with one out. Teruaki Sato hit a game-tying RBI double before Shota Morishita, who entered the game as an injury replacement for Seiya Suziki, belted a three-run home run to give Japan a 5-2 lead.
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Even then, Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata knew his team couldn’t settle in just yet.
“It was a very powerful team,” Ibata said of Venezuela, “so I know we couldn’t relieve. But we just felt they were a very powerful team. That’s how I felt.”
His feelings proved correct.
Venezuela responded with a Maikel Garcia two-run home run in the fifth inning and a Wilyer Abreu three-run home run in the sixth to take the lead for good.
Ohtani? He came up empty on his final three opportunities at the plate, striking out twice and then hitting that sharp flyout in the ninth to end the game.