Japanese media reported that manager Hideki Kuriyama (62), who led the revival of Japanese baseball, suggested resigning.

Japan’s Chunichi Sports and Maeil Newspaper reported that after the World Baseball Classic (WBC) finals on the 22nd, “Coach Kuriyama said at the championship champagne party, ‘I think this was the last uniform’.”

On this day, Japan defeated the United States 3-2 in the WBC final held at Londi Post Stadium in Miami, Florida. The match was fierce until the end, and Shohei Ohtani, who took the mound in the top of the ninth inning, blocked one inning scoreless and lifted the WBC 3rd championship trophy in his career.토토사이트

When discussing Japan’s victory this time, an indispensable figure is coach Kuriyama. As an outfielder, coach Kuriyama, who played for the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Yakult Swallows from 1984 to 1990, took command of the Nippon Ham Fighters from 2012 to 2021. At this time, the person with whom he had a relationship was Ohta. At that time, he helped Ohtani, who appeared like a comet, grow, and through the relationship between the teacher and the teacher at the time, he directly recruited Ohtani ahead of the WBC.

This was a godsend. Ohtani led Japan to the championship by batting 0.435 (10 hits in 23 at-bats), 1 home run, 8 RBIs and 9 runs in 7 games as a hitter in this tournament, and as a pitcher with 2 wins in 3 games and an average ERA of 1.86. He proved himself to be a baseball icon by monopolizing the pitcher and designated hitter divisions in MVP and All-Star selections.

Meanwhile, at the press conference that day, coach Kuriyama did not mention anything about the retirement of the national team coach. Instead of saying, “I’m really happy. Most of all, the young pitchers threw the ball hard without being afraid against the great batting line of the United States. It has become a great asset for Japanese baseball. They now think they can play great baseball in the future,” he said.