Preview: Japan takes on USA on Thursday evening in WBSC Premier12 Super Round

The still undefeated and No. 1 of the WBSC/KONAMI Men’s Baseball World Rankings, Japan, is facing World No. 5 USA in the Super Round of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS on Thursday at 7pm local time at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan went 5-0 during the opening round of the WBSC Premier12 to win Group B in Nagoya and Taipei City. The team of manager Hirokazo Ibata beat Australia (9-3), Korea (6-3), Chinese Taipei (3-1), Cuba (7-6) and Dominican Republic (11-3) on route to their undefeated showing. At the plate they are hitting .306/.404/.388 with just two home runs among the 36 runs scored overall. Shota Morishita went 8-for-14 during the opening round with eight runs scored and six RBI. Their pitching staff features a team ERA of 2.80 with a whopping 63 strikeouts in 45 innings, while walking just nine. Haruto Inoue went 2-0 with 11 strikeouts during his two appearances.

Team USA meanwhile struggled at times during the opening round of Group B, where they qualified for the Super Round with a mere 3-2 record, advancing thanks to the tiebreaker over Panama. USA beat the Netherlands 12-2, Panama 9-3 and Mexico 12-2, while losing 0-1 to Puerto Rico and 3-5 to Venezuela. They hit .317/.401/.549 with nine home runs and 36 runs scored during the first five games of the tournament. Matt Shaw and Chandler Simpson led the way with 11 hits each. Shaw ended up with 12 RBI during the opening round. Pitching wise the USA had a team ERA of 2.41 with 48 strikeouts in 41 innings, walking only eight.

Manager
Mike Scioscia is relying on his veteran as starting pitcher on the mound.44-year-old left-hander Rich Hill will get the nod. After 20 years in the bigleagues he is enjoying his first turnaround with Team USA, allowing only onerun (1 ER) on four hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings, striking out ninethrough two outings. He played for 13 different MLB teams during his careerwith an ERA of 4.01 in 386 games.

Samurai
Japan is countering with youth, as 22-year-old Hiroto Takahashi is going toserve as starting pitcher. The right-hander from the Chunichi Dragons is comingoff a stellar season in NPB, going 12-4 with an ERA of 1.38 in 21 games. Hestruck out 130 batters in 143 2/3 innings, walking 34. He pitched against Koreain the opening round, allowing two runs on seven hits, while striking outeight.

Japan and
USA have met multiple times at the senior level in international baseball competitionsin the last few years. USA is owning a 16-10 record over Japan since 2011. Howeverin the finals of the World Baseball Classic 2023 and the 2020 Tokyo OlympicsJapan prevailed both times in decisive matchups by scores of 3-2 and 2-0. Inthe Super Round of the WBSC Premier12 2019 USA won 4-3 against Japan. Japanstill won the WBSC Premier12 2019. They finished third in 2015. USA claimedsecond place in 2015 and fourth in 2019.