White Black Fox 03-03-2026
Hello! This post is coming out of my Tyrants, Dictators, and Strongmen class on the day in between WBC trip 1 and 2. Today is Tuesday. I saw a game on Monday. If you had asked me if I was going to be watching baseball Sunday morning, afternoon, night, or early Monday morning I would have answered differently every time. As surprising as it may sound, the renowned, respectable US ticket resale business failed me. My StubHub ticket order was supposed to arrive in the mail on Saturday. Immediately after sending my last article to the presses on Sunday, I checked on the status and saw that it was not close to my dorm, and better yet the post office was closed on Sundays. After talking to multiple customer service representatives that I am fairly sure were real people, props to StubHub for that I guess, I was told that no action could be done until Monday morning if tickets still were not in my mailbox. When I went to bed, the event was sold out and when I woke up, the same. I asked for a refund and all 13,000 yen (plus 500 of "we're sorry" bonuses) were awarded as credit. Through a reddit post I found after googling "Japan ticket resale WBC concert baseball" I came across ticketjam, a messaging board of Japanese ticket resalers who were looking to unload their seats for a small monetary tax but a large mental tax of not knowing if you were getting scammed until being handed the ticket outside the stadium. Once I found the site, before finding a match, I hustled to the train station and was off.
The listing I decided to purchase was by someone with a name that translated to White Black Fox. 10 back and forth messages later, I was outside gate 1 of the Osaka Kyocera Dome looking for someone wearing a white team Japan jersey, sunglasses, and a Shohei Ohtani #16 hat. The person that came up to me, an older lady with a stack of tickets and a beer in her hand, did not fit my mental image of a ticketjam reseller, but I was more than thankful nonetheless. My bag was checked, I walked through the metal detector, my newly acquired ticket was scanned, and I was in. It was about 17 minutes before gametime and I had no desire to get to my seats. I walked into the nearest seating bowl opening and it was all worth it. Team Korea's introductions had just concluded, anthems were about to begin, and first pitch was imminent. Before finding my seat, I treated myself to the classic ballpark pairing of fried noodles and a coke. An usher walked me to my aisle seat in left field and I was sitting down as the Hanshin Tigers ran onto the field. Korea quickly attacked the Tigers, scoring two runs in the 1st which would be the only scoring before a loud, game tying, Ryan Mountcastle-esque home run to center field in the visitor's half of the 5th inning. Even with it being an exhibition, Japan's strict rules regarding fans and home run ball souvenirs held. Ushers from 2-3 sections over on each side rushed to the area of the home run and checked on the fan before taking the ball and the fan immediately obliged.
The Tiger's only runs came in the 2nd inning off of a crispy small-ball rally. With 2 outs, a ball was hit to deep left field straight in line with my seat, before hitting the glove of former Oriole Jahmai Jones falling safely for an extra base hit. Many years ago in the midst of a 20something game August losing streak, the Orioles called up Jones and I went with some friends after a summer volleyball practice. The Orioles lost by a lot, but their historic losing streak came to an end the next night. The opposing starting pitcher of this game in which the O's were finally victorious was none other than Shohei Ohtani in his first start against the Orioles. Jahmai Jones never amounted to much production in his Orioles career and was gone a season later while Ohtani has a career 5.17 ERA against the Orioles, his highest versus any team he has pitched against more than twice.
Even though he couldn't get it done against the 2021 Orioles, Ohtani is responsible for the most impressive game I have ever come close to seeing live, in 2023. Against rookie Grayson Rodriguez, Ohtani pitched fine. He outdueled Rodriguez on the mound, surrendering 5 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings to Grayson's 8 runs on 9 hits in 3.1 innings. It could be argued both pitchers pitched poorly, especially by their standards, yet one hit extremely better than the other. Because he is a pitcher, Rodriguez did not get any at bats and left the game in the 4th inning when he was pulled. Because he is Shohei Ohtani, Ohtani had 4 hits including a triple and 456 foot home run. Definitely made up for the subpar start. He didn't get a hit in the following two games, but homered again in the final game of the series; a game I missed for a dentist appointment.
Yesterday's game ended in a 3-3 tie after a Tiger baserunner was thrown out at home with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning but the crowd did not stop cheering the entire time. Including White Black Fox who had sat next to me in her seats around the 3rd inning. Her and approximately 90% of the other fans in the packed domed stadium knew all of the chants and did not touch their phones once the whole game. Whenever a Tigers player made a fine defensive play they would go bonkers, whenever a Korean player did they would clap and tip their hats. Hanshin fans are known for being some of the loudest and most intimidating in the entire baseball world, and I think that their respect for, and celebration, of good baseball in general - even if it hurts them, adds to that. You don't see that in the MLB. Especially not in the Bronx.
My bullet train is booked, my Airbnb is awaiting my arrival, and several WBC tickets have the current highest bid by user OliverOriolesOhtani52. I am pumped to experience Tokyo, and of course to watch some more baseball. Thank you for reading.
Oliver
