In this World Baseball Classic (WBC), interesting ‘symbols’ of each country can be seen.
Lars Nutba (St. Louis Cardinals), who played as an outfielder for the Japanese national team, said at an official press conference ahead of the 2023 WBC Italy and quarterfinals held at Tokyo Dome, Japan on the 16th, “Our (Japan) young players went to buy a pepper grinder. Maybe today pepper in the dugout. There will be grinders,” he said.
Japan became a hot topic on the 6th with a pepper grinder ceremony from the official evaluation match against the Hanshin Tigers. Nutba spread the St. Louis team ceremony to Japanese players. In particular, after Ohtani Shohei (LA Angels) hit a three-run homer in consecutive hits on the day, he held a pepper grinder ceremony and drew attention.
Nutba was proud, saying, “I heard that the purchase of pepper grinders has increased recently.” In fact, at the Tokyo Dome, where Japan played until the quarterfinals, there were quite a few spectators who brought pepper grinders. The ceremony card that Nutba took out to have fellowship with Japanese players who speak different languages has become a ‘symbol’ that unites Japan.
Italy’s dugout, which had a quarterfinal match against Japan, also has a ‘specialty’. In Italy, a coffee machine has been placed in one corner of the dugout since the group stage. Like Italy, the country of coffee, there are 8 types of coffee capsules available. Director Mike Piazza strongly requested that coffee cups be changed from disposable cups to mugs. Coach Piazza led the national team and visited Florence, Italy before the tournament to feel the ‘roots’ of the team.
England, which is called a baseball underdog, showed a ceremony worthy of a country of monarchy. When players who hit a home run return to the dugout, a gold crown made of paper and a purple cape are floated and a ‘coronation ceremony’ is held. The British players seemed delighted to be crowned.
From the first match against Australia to the last match against China, the teams showed a spleen face without a single smile. Korea suffered a 7-8 shock loss against Australia in the first match of the group stage,메이저사이트 but was unable to show their skills due to the pressure of having to beat Australia unconditionally regardless of the result. The game after that was, needless to say, ‘sinner mode’.
Ha-seong Kim (San Diego Padres) said, “I saw these things on Darvish Yu’s social media after dinner (with the Japanese national team before the tournament). The Korean team didn’t have that. He also regretted the stiff atmosphere of the national team.
It is not necessary to have a dinner party to become one, but maybe there was not enough process to become one under the Taegeuk mark before shouting ‘patriotism’ with words alone. The national team, which neither enjoyed nor won, finished this tournament without gaining anything. After returning home, Kim Hye-seong (Kiwoom Heroes) firmly said, “There was no income from this tournament…”.