MIAMI -- The two best baseball players in the world's eyes locked for a split second, long enough to acknowledge one another and the sheer improbability of what was happening. Top of the ninth. Two outs. A one-run game. In the batter's box stood Mike Trout and on the pitcher's mound Shohei Ohtani. When this was over, they would again be teammates with the Los Angeles Angels, but in this moment, this perfect moment, they were foes.
Three minutes later, when the at-bat of a lifetime ended, Ohtani was mobbed by his Samurai Japan teammates, the new World Baseball Classic champions, and Trout was skulking back to the Team USA dugout, having swung through a frisbee slider on a full count that cemented Japan's 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.