Photo/Illutration Samurai Japan members give manager Hideki Kuriyama a victory toss after Japan defeated the United States in the final of the World Baseball Classic in Miami on March 21. (Jin Nishioka)

In the locker room at loanDepot Park in Miami, Samurai Japan members huddled together, ready to take on the defending champion United States in the final of the World Baseball Classic.

Japan national team manager Hideki Kuriyama then signaled to the biggest star on the team.

“Shohei, please.”

Shohei Ohtani stood in front of his teammates and began his pep talk.

“I have only one thing to say,” he said. “Let’s get rid of this sense of adoration, shall we?”

He listed some of the names from the star-studded U.S. lineup.

“They’ve got (Paul) Goldschmidt as the first baseman. And look at centerfield, we’ll see Mike Trout there, and Mookie Betts in the outfield. Anybody who plays baseball has heard of them.

“But if we idolize them, we can’t surpass them. We’ve come here to surpass them and to reach the top.”

Ohtani gave only one instruction to the team before they took the field on March 20.

“Just for today, let’s get rid of our adoration for them and think about nothing but winning,” he said. “Let’s go!”

Japan won the first and second World Baseball Classic tournaments in 2006 and 2009. But there has always been a feeling among many Japanese players that they were playing in the shadows of the American major leaguers.

For the 2023 tounament, Japan itself had a lineup full of star players, including four major leaguers.

But as Samurai Japan knew early on, individual talent would not be enough to take the title. Throughout the tournament, playing as a team was the unwritten rule.

After Ohtani joined the squad in early March, teammates stared in awe as the Los Angeles Angels slugger crushed ball after ball during batting practice.

Even Masataka Yoshida, 29, who recently signed with the Boston Red Sox, said about Ohtani’s batting practice: “He blew me away. He’s a superstar.”

However, during the WBC games in Tokyo, Ohtani often acted more like a cheerleader than a superstar. He and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar kept the team loose and in good spirits.

Yu Darvish of San Diego Padres, the oldest player on Samurai Japan, took the initiative in team-building and team-bonding, especially with the young pitchers.

He was the only major leaguer who joined the team’s pre-WBC camp in Miyazaki Prefecture in February.

Darvish learned that Yuki Udagawa, a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher with the Orix Buffaloes, was having a hard time blending in on the team because of his shyness.

So Darvish served as MC at a dinner party for all of the pitchers. He engaged in conversation with everybody and took a group photo.

“Playing baseball is fun,” he constantly reminded his younger teammates.

Darvish gave them tips on pitching and training but above all, he told them, “Stay relaxed.”

Shota Imanaga, 29, of the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, said: “We are like a family. Without Darvish, we would not have been able to start the tournament with such a mindset.”

Imanaga was the starting pitcher in the final game against the United States, which Japan won 3-2.

Ohtani, who was named Most Valuable Player of the WBC, said: “We finished the (tournament) the best way possible. Each and every one of us did our job, and we never gave up until the very end.”

Munetaka Murakami, who had struggled in the tournament before hitting a game-winning double against Mexico in the semifinals, hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second inning against the United States.

“It feels great to be the world’s No. 1, but it hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “The American team was a star-studded team and very strong. We played a really great game.”

The lengthy Japanese celebration on the field eventually came to an end. And the players knew that it was soon time to say goodbye to each other.

“To be honest, I feel sad now that this is over,” Ohtani said. “It’s time to return to each team as the new baseball season will start soon, and it feels sad. I think everybody feels the same.”

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