Samurai Japan beats South Korea to win Asia Professional Baseball Championship

Tomoya Masaki and Rui Muneyama could not share the MVP award at the Asia Professional Baseball Championship. 

As for the tournament championship, that is something they can enjoy together alongside the rest of their Samurai Japan teammates. 

Masaki hit a three-run home run in the final and Hiroto Takahashi threw seven frames of one-run ball as Japan beat South Korea 5-1 to capture the title in front of a crowd of 36,022 at Tokyo Dome on Sunday night.

The APBC is a U-24 tournament that also features Australia, South Korea and Taiwan.

Australia defeated Taiwan 6-4 in the third-place game earlier in the day. 

Japan captured the title for the third time after winning the inaugural edition in 2017 and taking the crown again in 2023. The Japanese have never lost in the APBC improving to 11-0 with Sunday’s victory.

The result gave Samurai Japan manager Tadahito Iguchi the perfect start to his tenure in the dugout. Iguchi was hired in July to take over from Hirokazu Ibata and guide Japan in next year’s Premier12 and at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, if the nation qualifies.

The players gathered near the mound after the game and tossed Iguchi into the air three times as they celebrated.

They also sent Masaki and Muneyama airborne. 

Masaki and Muneyama turned the tournament into a personal showcase of their offensive talents. 

Masaki, the Japan Series MVP for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks last month, finished with five home runs and 11 RBIs in four games as the leadoff man. 

Not to be outdone, Muneyama, the No. 2 batter, connected on four homers and drove in 11 runs. Muneyama also had three doubles among his 10 hits.

Muneyama was named tournament MVP.

Masaki, however, did not leave empty-handed, as Iguchi handed him the ¥30 million check Japan received as the winning team. He also accepted the championship trophy for the team.