Attendance tops 114k for 4-game international baseball showcase in Japan
TOKYO – After losing the opener against Mexico, top-ranked Japan rebounded to win the final three games of the WBSC Global Series 2016 at the Tokyo Dome, including a two-game sweep of the Netherlands.
The official total attendance for the international event was 114,489, for an average of 28.6k per game. Japan versus Netherlands on Saturday, 12 November, attracted the biggest crowd (37,101).
The live-stream and video highlights of the international series registered nearly a million video views across WBSC platforms.
Japan-Mexico
World No. 1 Japan and No. 8 Mexico split their two games. In the nations’ first meeting of their Men’s Professional National Teams since the bronze medal match at the PREMIER12® 2015, Mexico avenged the loss last November with a historic 7-3 win over Japan to launch the Global Series 2016.
Japan returned the favour the following day with a 11-4 victory over the Americas representative, despite three solo home runs from the Mexican Baseball League (LMB) stars.
Japan-Netherlands
No. 10 Netherlands jumped out to healthy leads against the world No. 1 in both games: 5-1 through 4.5 innings in their first meeting and 8-2 through six innings in their second contest. Both games went into extra-innings.
Leading 8-7 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Netherlands was on the verge of winning the first game, but a throwing error on an easy infield groundball gave Japan second-life. Kalian Sams powered the Dutch offence, blasting a 2-run home run and RBI double, but Japan won the first game, 9-8, in 10 innings.
Japan and Netherlands combined for 22 runs in their final match, as a grand slam by Seiya Suzuki (Hiroshima Toyo Carp – NPB) in the top of the 10th inning was the decider.
The international games were staged in preparation for the World Baseball Classic next March.
