The World Baseball Classic was met with mixed reviews this year, due to a seeming lack of interest and MLB players sustaining injuries before their seasons start. But judging by the reaction to Shohei Ohtani and his strikeout on Twitter, baseball is alive and well in the world.
Shoehi Ohtani Strikeout Goes Viral, MLB’s Most Liked Tweet Ever
The tournament stage of the WBC provided plenty of fireworks. Trea Turner’s go-ahead grand slam against Venezuela was the signature moment for Team USA, and Japan vs. Mexico in the semi-finals was an outstanding game with highlight plays.
And you couldn’t have written a better script for the championship game. The two most outstanding teams from the tournament met in the final, with Team USA and Team Japan trading barbs until the final innings. Then came the showdown that was, quite literally, heard around the world.
The game came down to the 9th inning, with Japan leading the US 3-2. Superstar Shoehi Ohtani was on the mound for Japan, and with two outs and his team on the verge of knocking off the defending champions, up walked his Los Angeles Angels teammate, co-MVP favorite, and superstar in his own right in Mike Trout.
Nine of MLB's top ten most-liked tweets of all time have come from the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Shohei Ohtani's strikeout to win the WBC is their most-liked tweet ever with 200,000 likes.
That's 170,000 more than their most popular non-WBC tweet (Astros 2022 WS).
Insane 🤯 pic.twitter.com/B1BDzvms29
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) March 22, 2023
The reaction to the biggest strikeout that the game of baseball has seen in some time was undeniable. According to a tweet fired off by Joe Pompilano, the tweet of the video of Ohtani’s strikeout of Trout was the MLB’s most liked tweet of all time.
Reaction To Tweet Shows Legit Interest In WBC
Not only was it the most liked, but by an impressively extensive margin. The tweet has received over 200,000 likes (and counting), which is 170,000 more than the previous high when the Astros won the world series.
Granted, many of those likes could be coming from fans of the Japanese team. There were reports that nearly half of the televisions in the entire country of Japan were tuned into the semi-final game, and one would imagine that the championship game was an even bigger draw. It is likely that a large portion of them took to social media to celebrate, as well. With Shohei Ohtani being the biggest star in the sport in Japan, it was the perfect storm for elation for Team Japan and their fans.
SHOHEI OHTANI STRIKES OUT MIKE TROUT TO WIN THE #WORLDBASEBALLCLASSIC! pic.twitter.com/F7vUtIiRR1
— MLB (@MLB) March 22, 2023
It is in tune with the entire tournament and the global interest in the World Baseball Classic. Also featured in Pompilano’s tweet is the fact that nine of the MLB’s top ten liked tweets of all-time came from 2023 WBC content.
The owners of MLB teams may not love putting their players at risk before the season even starts, but there is no denying the passion and intensity that the players provide as they play for the pride of their countries.
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