After a four-year wait, the third edition of the World Baseball Classic has officially begun. Yet Seiichi Uchikawa kept his low-key manner one day before the two-time defending champions were set to face Brazil in Japan's tournament opener.
Uchikawa's reason was simple: He'd already put himself in a fighting mode, since Team Japan got to work on its tuneups in mid-February.
"To be quite honestly speaking, ever since we started playing warmup games, I've tried to take this seriously," Uchikawa said after his team's workout at the inside facility of Fukuoka Institute of Technology baseball team on Friday. "So because the tournament begins tomorrow, it won't affect my mental itensity level."