Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan’s goal of consecutive World Baseball Classic titles ended on Saturday after an 8-5 loss against Team Venezuela in the quarterfinal in Miami.
The defending champions were stunned by Venezuela, who overturned a 5-2 deficit to book their first semifinal berth since 2009. The Japanese offense, led by Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, failed to score after the third inning.
MLB fans reacted to Japan’s shocking quarterfinal exit on Saturday.
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“Ohtani PULLED A JUDGE.”
“Venezuela v Italy should be the final. These teams are fueled solely by emotion! 🔥”
“All efforts the WBC made to have USA vs JAPAN finals game just disappeared and im so happy about it, Japan needed to be humbled, everyone was talking about them being the best team, Guess what? it wasn’t they just lost.”
“SHOHEI OHTANI IN THE CLUTCH IS NON-EXISTENT😂😂😂😂😂😂”
“SHOHEIIII, WHAT HAPPENED. YOU FRAUDDD💀💀😭😭”
“I was told Ohtani was gonna carry Japan to back to back WBC wins? Lol”
Ohtani, who helped Japan to the 2023 WBC title by striking out Mike Trout, popped out on a fly ball to end their 2026 campaign on Saturday. Japan entered the quarterfinals as one of the favorites after going undefeated in pool play.
Edited by Chaitanya Prakash
