Wow, that was quite possibly the most exciting baseball game I have ever watched.  Japan has just defeated Korea to win the '09 World Baseball Classic Championship, which made its way into extra innings and ended with Ichiro pulling the Japanese team ahead of the Koreans with a single that brought in two runs.  I am of Japanese decent, and therefore was rooting for Japan to win the World Baseball Classic.  Of course, I am also a huge fan of Japanese players, such as Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka.  I was hoping that Japan would meet the US in the WBC Finals, but I think that the scenario that occured was way more exciting than what I had initially hoped. 

Japan entered the World Baseball Classic as the defending champions of the '06 World Baseball Classic, as well as the dominating threat going into this years tournament.  Korea entered the tournament as the Gold Medalists of the 2008 Summer Olympics.  With the exception of the slight publicity of Japan being defending WBC champs, both Asian teams were overlooked by the US media due to its interest in the US National Team and the other Latin American teams, such as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.  In the games leading up to the WBC Final, Japan and Korea played each other a total of four times, and both won two games against each other.  These match-ups helped reinforce the rivalry of the two teams.  However, both teams were undefeated against every other team they faced.  Japan successfully defeated China, Taipai, and Cuba twice.  Korea defeated China, Taipei, and Mexico. In the semi-final match-ups, Korea destroyed Venezuela 10-2 and Japan defeated USA 9-4.  Once again, Japan and Korea were going to face-off, this time for the Championship.

The World Baseball Classic Final was one of the more exciting baseball games I have ever seen.  The fans were wild, more wild than most college football stadiums.  Every fan was on their feet, waived their flags with pride, slapped thunder clappers together, and cheered their respective teams on.  There were even fans dressed up for the game, cosplay style.  The atmosphere was so hectic that the camera was shaking.  The closest atmosphere that I could possibly imagine to be close to as crazy as this one would be a post-season game between the Yankees and Red Sox.

However, the game matched the atmosphere.  Japan had many chances to run away with the game, having base hit after base hit.  Of all the opportunities to score, Japan only cashed in 3 runs heading into the 9th inning.  Korea, which was only down 2-3, shocked the Japanese defense when Japan gave up a single to the left, lifting the Koreans to a 3-3 tie and driving the game into extra innings.  In the top of the 10th of extra innings, Japan dominated the inning when Ichiro Suzuki drove in a 2- run single to bring the score to 5-3.  Korea was unable to match the momentum in the bottom of the 10th, thus bringing the Japanese their second consecutive World Baseball Classic title.

In addition to the Japanese winning back-to-back titles, Daisuke Matsuzaka earned the honor of WBC MVP for the second consecutive tournament.  Daisuke was undefeated (3-0) in the tournament with a 1.69 ERA, defeating Korea, Cuba, and USA.

Current MLB Players in the tournament:
Japan
Ichiro Suzuki - #51 OF - Seattle Mariners
Daisuke Matsuzaka - #18 P - Boston Red Sox
Kenji Jojima - #2 C - Seattle Mariners
Kosuke Fukudome - #1 OF - Chicago Cubs
Akinori Iwamura - #1 2B - Tampa Bay Rays (Used #8 during the WBC)

Korea
Shin-Soo Choo - #17 OF - Cleveland Indians (Used #5 during WBC)

~~I'm so proud to be Japanese~~