Before the championship game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Shohei Ohtani delivered a speech inside Team Japan’s clubhouse that instantly became legendary.

It was the first time during the tournament that Ohtani had been asked to lead the team’s pregame rally speech, known in Japan as a koedashi. What he said united the team and helped prepare them mentally for the biggest game of their lives.

Ohtani told his teammates:

“Let’s stop admiring them. They have Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and all kinds of players everyone has heard of. But we came here to become the best in the world. Just for today, let’s throw away our admiration for them and focus only on winning.”

The words spread across Japan almost instantly.

But Ohtani’s message was deeper than simple motivation.

The American roster was filled with superstars admired by baseball players around the world. Many members of Team Japan had grown up watching those players, studying them, and respecting them.

Ohtani understood the danger of that mindset.

If players entered the game thinking:

“There’s no way I can strike him out.”
“There’s no way I can hit against him.”
“There’s no way we can beat a team like that.”

—then the game would already be lost before it even began.

Ohtani later explained that what he truly wanted was for Japan to compete on equal footing, believing fully in their own strength.

For just one day, admiration had to disappear.

Only confidence could remain.

Those words reflected Ohtani’s unwavering belief in Team Japan. He believed that if everyone played to their full ability, Japan could defeat the United States—even against one of the most talented rosters ever assembled.

And in the end, they did.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

Number PLUS May 2023 Edition, p.33