Samurai Japan finished the Premier 12 with a tournament-high 7-1 record. But the sole loss was huge for the national baseball team and cost it a shot at vying for global championship's inaugural title.
On Thursday, Japan blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning and fell 4-3 to archrival South Korea in the tournament semifinals at Tokyo Dome. The next day, Japan manager Hiroki Kokubo, 44, said that it was the biggest loss of his entire baseball career and he couldn't sleep well the previous night.
And one day after his team won the third-place game and the 12-team tournament concluded, Kokubo still looked exhausted. Perhaps he had endured another sleepless night.