World Baseball Classic-winning manager Hideki Kuriyama on Monday criticized organizers of the tournament for a sudden change in the bracket that resulted in the United States being pitted against his team in the final.
The two teams were to meet in the semifinals under the original bracket, but the organizers announced a schedule switch on March 16 for the two quarterfinal games in Miami amid speculation they did so to engineer the possibility of a matchup between two of the game's biggest stars — Los Angeles Angels teammates Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani — in the final.
"I was making plans for a semifinal showdown against the United States, especially for pitchers," Kuriyama said at a news conference in Tokyo. "More than anything, my goal was to beat the Americans, who really got serious for this tournament.