Team Japan entered the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) as the strongest team in history, and it took them just three tournaments to lift the trophy. It’s been 14 years since they won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009. Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), Darvish Yu (San Diego Padres), Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte Marines), and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes) formed the strongest starting lineup.
Ohtani, Darvish, Sasaki and Yamamoto fulfilled their responsibilities by starting against China, South Korea, Czech Republic and Australia in the first round. Ohtani and Darvish started the quarterfinals against Italy and Sasaki and Yamamoto started and relieved in the semifinals against Mexico. Darvish and Ohtani pitched side-by-side in the final against the United States to help win the title.
Three of Japan’s four starting pitchers were injured, perhaps due to the dreaded WBC hangover. Sasaki, Ohtani, and now Darvish have been sidelined with injuries.
The San Diego club announced on Monday (July 29) that Darvish was placed on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation.
Darvish was removed from his start against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 26 after giving up five runs on six hits (one home run) in four innings. It was his 10th loss of the season (8 wins).
His command has dropped off in August. Three losses in five starts with no wins and a 4.66 ERA. Only two of those five starts were quality starts (6+ innings, 3 earned runs or less).
There is no specific future schedule yet. Some U.S. media outlets have suggested that Darvish may not pitch the rest of the season if San Diego’s slump continues.
San Diego is in fourth place out of five teams in the National League West. A postseason berth is unlikely. Darvish re-signed for six years and $108 million in February, just before the start of the WBC.
Last week, “Superstar” Ohtani was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right elbow. He will be limited to batting for the remainder of the season after being a dominant two-hitter. The team has not yet decided if he will undergo surgery, which could be a repeat of the same procedure in 2018.
Before Darvish and Ohtani, Sasaki was sidelined with an injury. Sasaki started against the SoftBank Hawks on July 24 and gave up one run on four hits in six innings before being pulled. He left the game after throwing 93 pitches due to left side pain.
The next day, the Chiba Lotte team announced that Sasaki had been diagnosed with a left lateral muscle strain. He had been pitching with plenty of rest under the club’s care.온라인바카
He was 7-2 with a 1.48 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 13 games. Sasaki is expected to return to the
Sasaki recently started pitching after a month on the disabled list.
All three players’ injuries came late in the season, and many baseball experts suspect WBC hangover. They say that the injuries were caused by pitching and building up their bodies faster than usual for the tournament.