NARITA, Chiba -- Before Shohei Ohtani closed out Japan's dramatic victory over the United States in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic, catcher Yuhei Nakamura went out to the mound for a talk.
Nakamura had never been behind the plate when Ohtani pitched -- not even for warming up in the bullpen -- and he wanted to make sure the two got their signals straight. Instead, he got a surprise.
"Don't worry too much about location," Nakamura quoted Ohtani as telling him. "Just relax and get into position."
