[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, November 25, 2024]The Taiwan team won the gold medal in the top 12 baseball tournament in the world. Japanese media analyzed today that the biggest reason for the Japanese team’s failure was the “temperature difference”, that is, the degree of input into the game. Taiwan offers the Guoguang Medal. The champion team will each receive NT$7 million (approximately US$216,000), which is approximately NT$6 million (approximately US$39,000, NT$1.26 million) per person compared to the Japanese team that won the classic last year. Much higher.
“Tokyo Sports” reported that the Japanese team advanced to the finals with an unbeaten record from the start and faced off against the Taiwan team for the third time in this competition. However, the Taiwanese team made a surprise move in the rematch on the 23rd. They replaced Lin Yu-min, the originally scheduled starter, and adjusted him to the starting lineup in the finals. They were even willing to pay a fine for this. Ace left-hander Lin Yumin lived up to expectations, pitching 4 scoreless innings. Starting from the 5th inning, the replacement pitcher did not allow the Japanese team to advance to third base, and only gave up 4 hits. In the end, the Japanese team was defeated 4-0.
Reports stated that the Japanese team was the favorite to win this tournament, and the news of the loss shocked baseball fans across Japan. However, a Taiwanese media reporter who is familiar with Japanese baseball analyzed before the game that in fact, the combat power of Japan and Taiwan in this game was In a sense “evenly matched”.
He analyzed, “Japan and Taiwan actually did not use their full strength when selecting players for the competition. Although it is expected that major league players including Sho Ohtani and others will not be able to play, many key players in both Japan and Taiwan have suffered injuries. Due to illness and other factors, both sides were unable to compete with their strongest lineups, and the situation was equally difficult.”
On the Japanese team, heavy hitters such as Munataka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto all missed the game due to injuries, and some of Taiwan’s main players also withdrew, so the two sides did not field the most perfect lineup. However, under similar conditions, Taiwan not only defeated the Japanese team at home in a foreign country, Japan, but also won its first championship in history. In contrast, the decisive factor in Japan’s defeat was the overwhelming contrast in the “temperature difference” (level of commitment) between the two teams.
According to Taiwan’s “Guoguang Sports Medal and Scholarship Awarding Method”, each player on the championship team will receive a bonus of NT$7 million (approximately 33.1 million yen). This is not only higher than the average annual salary of Taiwanese baseball players, but also higher than the Japanese team’s last year. The prize money of 6 million yen per player after winning the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is much higher.
The high bonuses set by the “policy” show how important winning this tournament is to Taiwan’s baseball community. Taiwanese reporters analyzed that the Taiwan team’s primary goal was to enter the semi-finals. As a result, they not only advanced to the finals, but also faced Japan. This has brought Taiwan’s domestic attention to this game to an unprecedented level in history, and newspapers have rarely reported it on the front page in recent days.
In comparison, Japan has paid much less attention to the top 12 baseball games that are positioned lower than the Classic. They are more focused on inspecting and training young players for the next Classic, and are less obsessed with winning.
A Japanese player who has participated in the competition said frankly, “Of course I hope to win the championship, but the risk of participating is quite high. For players who hope to attract the attention of major league scouts, this is a good opportunity, but for most players In other words, the priority is to avoid injury.”
(Reprinted from Central News Agency/Editor: Lu Yongxin)
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