{"id":603321,"date":"2026-03-03T09:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/603321\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T09:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:32:27","slug":"shohei-ohtanis-reaction-to-japans-exhibition-loss-days-before-wbc-goes-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/603321\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani\u2019s Reaction to Japan\u2019s Exhibition Loss Days Before WBC Goes Viral"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Baseball Classic is officially underway, with the first game set to begin Thursday. But several teams are playing exhibition games this week ahead of pool play \u2014 including Team Japan, led by several MLB<\/a> stars, most notably Los Angeles Dodgers standout Shohei Ohtani.<\/p>\n

Team Japan faced the Orix Buffaloes, one of Japan\u2019s top professional teams, and ultimately lost 4\u20133 in a thrilling finish. Down by two runs in the ninth, Japan managed to score one, but the second runner was thrown out at home on a perfect relay from left field, recording the third and final out.<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s reaction in the dugout immediately caught fans\u2019 attention. He was seen clapping with a smile, acknowledging both the dramatic ending and the opponent\u2019s outstanding play, showing grace despite the loss. While it\u2019s just an early exhibition game, the result was a notable moment for Team Japan, the defending WBC champions from 2023.<\/p>\n

Check it out:<\/p>\n

More news: World Baseball Classic Draws Criticism After Controversial Japan Decision<\/a><\/p>\n

More news: World Baseball Classic Uniforms Ranked From Worst to Best<\/a><\/p>\n

“Here\u2019s hoping Team Japan loosing out in the first round. I just want my players back in LA healthy,” a fan said. <\/p>\n

Someone else added, “[Ohtani] had Orix Buffaloes ML.”<\/p>\n

Another person wrote, “That was electric.” <\/p>\n

“Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s old NPB team with the W,” a fan shared. <\/p>\n

One more person commented, “When the team loses but the bank account winning.” <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Against the Buffaloes on Monday, Ohtani went 0-for-3 with two fly-outs and a strikeout while batting second in the lineup \u2014 a spot he will likely keep when Japan begins pool play on Saturday in Pool C, hosted in Japan, with their first matchup against Chinese Taipei.<\/p>\n

More news: Mets Acquire 28-Year-Old Strikeout Machine After Rays Exit: Report<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Baseball Classic is officially underway, with the first game set to begin Thursday. But several teams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2302],"tags":[5,4,2353,2352,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-603321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-npb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-nippon-professional-baseball","11":"tag-npb","12":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116164556060207523","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}