Published by
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
By Dan Gartland His game-ending strikeout was more impressive than was immediately evident. Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic championship game ended just the way every baseball fan hoped it would—with Mike Trout facing his Angels teammate Shohei Ohtani. After Ohtani walked leadoff hitter Jeff McNeil and got Mookie Betts to ground into a double play, Trout came to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning and the United States trailing Japan, 3–2. What Ohtani did next will be talked about for years. His first pitch, a slider, missed low. Then he threw a 100 mph fastball in the bottom of the z…