The Venezuela-Japan WBC quarterfinal faceoff just made history from both ends. As Venezuela got over Japan by 8-5, this is the first time they have gone into a semifinal since 2009. On the other hand, this is the first time in the WBC history that Japan failed to secure its semifinal berth. So, with all projections going upside down, let’s have a look at how Venezuela decimated Japan’s starry roster with names like Shohei Ohtani.

“At the World Baseball Classic, it has won three times, including the last WBC in 2023. At the Olympic Games, Japan is the reigning gold medalist. It also has two bronze and one silver medal in the history of the Games.” The New York Times reported on Japan’s dominance in baseball.

In all probability, Japan started the quarterfinal against Venezuela as the favorite. They wreaked havoc on the opponents in the pool play round, outscoring them 34-9. But Venezuela stunned the fans in the first inning only. It was their Ronald Acuna Jr. who took a 401-foot skyshot off Yoshinobu Yamamoto to open the scoreboard for Venezuela.

But Japan leveled the score with Shohei Ohtani responding with a 427-footer in the first inning itself. It went to center field off Ranger Suarez, leveling the score at 1–1.

The rest of the inning stayed quiet, and the game remained tied after the first.

Japan then acted fast as the defending champions. In the third inning, their offense came alive, scoring three more runs and stretching the lead to 5–2. At that point, it looked like Japan was firmly on track for another semifinal appearance.

But Venezuela had other plans. They began chipping away at the lead, and the momentum slowly shifted. The fifth, sixth, and eight inning saw Venezuela accumulating runs with Wilyer Abreau hitting a 3-run homer. Further, Venezuela’s Jackson Chourio, Ezequiel Tovar, and Gleyber Torres added runs, resulting in an 8-5 lead over Japan by the eighth.

However, while Shohei Ohtani’s staff put up a fight till the fifth, they couldn’t do any further. The last inning went scoreless for both teams, and Japan went down against Venezuela by a score of 5- 8. Apart from the Venezuelan offense, the credit also goes to their pitching, with names like Andres Machado, Angel Zerpa, and Daniel Palencia restricting Japan to only 5 runs.

So, just as Japan failed to secure its semifinal spot for the first time, Venezuela made history. They also secured their first-ever Olympics spot for LA28 with this win.

Shohei Ohtani still proved to be the best despite Japan’s loss

Despite Japan’s loss, Shohei Ohtani again proved why he is called baseball’s best player right now. His heroics couldn’t generate results like the 2023 WBC, when he struck out Mike Trout to win the title for Japan. But this time around, with his role limited to the batter’s box only, Ohtani still did what he does best with the bat.

He smashed 3 HRs in the tournament until the quarterfinals. In 2023, he hit one home run with a .435 average, while this time he launched three homers and batted around .462. But if Japan had won against Venezuela, Ohtani would have two more games to improve his tally. But for now, Japan fans still have something to cheer about, and that’s Shohei Ohtani.

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On the contrary, the Dodgers have every reason to be happy with the quarterfinal. “He’s not going to pitch in the WBC, but he will be ramping up his arm to get ready for the season.” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last month about Ohtani. So, now that Ohtani will no longer be exposed to the clutch situation in the WBC, the Dodgers just dodged a chance of another Shohei Ohtani injury.