We’ve been keeping you up to date on the World Baseball Classic as it happened. Earlier this month, we even shared some of the greatest Mets WBC moments. Now that the tournament’s over, we want to share our favorite moment from this WBC (and we’re not sharing our least favorite moment – because no one wants to relive that).

Matt Mancuso

It’s difficult to pick just one favorite. Who could forget Matt Harvey‘s espresso-fueled run, Randy Arozaonrea’s unreal home-run grab & pose, or Munetaka Murakami‘s walk-off double to clinch Japan a spot in the final? That being said, If I was forced to pick a favorite, I would center on Mike Trout‘s final at-bat against Shohei Ohtani.

The WBC final was full of contagious excitement, wracked nerves, and certainly a one-of-a-kind wonder, terms that could, in essence, describe the last three weeks of WBC activity. In a single at-bat, the ninth inning of the USA-Japan matchup had all the storylines.

In a tense, one-run game, which of the two global baseball conglomerates would win out?

How is Ohtani doing this?

How will the world’s best hitter (Mike Trout) fare against the world’s greatest player?

In the end, Ohtani’s insane pitch selection bested Trout, with Japan coming away victorious with their first WBC win since 2009.

Robby Waldrop

Favorite WBC moment had to be Trea Turner’s grand slam. Even though he’s usually been a rival, I’ve always enjoyed watching him play and he was on fire for most of the WBC. That homer was one of those get out of your seat and yell moments, and it was at such a huge time in the game and the tournament, so that was the highlight for me.

John Sheridan

My favorite moment was the Jeff McNeil walk in the top of the ninth against Shohei Ohtani. The focus of that inning was all on Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Mike Trout with the world anticipating the Ohtani-Trout matchup. McNeil was the guy who was a former 12th round pick. He was available multiple times in the Rule 5 draft, but no one wanted him. He plays a brand of baseball thought to go out of style long ago.

Of all the players to be on Team USA, he was the least likely. And yet, he stared down Ohtani, the best player in the game. over a seven-pitch plate appearance to draw a lead-off walk.

This is what McNeil has always been about. He was completely overlooked and a complete afterthought in that inning. And yet, he was the one who came up big with a walk giving his team a chance to win.

Yes, there were far bigger moments in this tournament. In fact, the biggest was two batters away. However, I’m a Mets fan who respects and loves McNeil for everything he’s accomplished and for him being everything good about not just baseball, but sports in general.

Mathias Altman-Kurosaki

As a Japanese-American, seeing both of my nations battle it out for a championship was amazing. The showdown between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout was my favorite moment of the tournament –  it was everything I could’ve dreamed of. It was straight power on power with the game on the line, which made it super exciting to watch, and I hope that we get to see a rematch in a future WBC.

Johnluke Chaparro

Easily my favorite moment personally, was when Team Puerto Rico defeated (Edwin Diaz injury aside) the Dominican Republic. As a Puerto Rican, we have a rivalry with the Dominican Republic so it was nice to jump on them, especially with the Lindor inside the parker, and knock them out of the tournament.

Dan Quiñones

The amazing thing about this WBC is it felt like it had an incredible moment on a nightly basis. If I had to pick one moment, my favorite would probably be Lindor’s little league home run. Being a Puerto Rican Met fan, the excitement of seeing the ball get by Julio Rodriguez and seeing Lindor fly around the bases was incredible, especially with it coming in an elimination game against the early WBC favorite in the Dominican Republic. The energy in the crowd that night was the best of the entire tournament in my opinion. Seeing the passion from the players and the crowd when Lindor slid into home is something that you rarely see. While the Game 7 feel definitely added to the moment, I would love to see that kind of passion more often in MLB games.

Christian De Block

The 2023 World Baseball Classic was a wonderful tournament, capped off by an entertaining championship game between Japan and the United States. For me though, my favorite moment came during USA’s win over Venezuela in the quarterfinals. Trea Turner’s grand slam to put USA ahead in the top of the eighth inning was one of the coolest moments of the tournament. The passion he showed as he rounded the bases gave me a different kind of goosebumps that doesn’t come around too often. It felt like I was almost in the stadium, witnessing that moment in person as a fan. It would have been great to see the United States win the championship, but the WBC as a whole drew a lot of new people to the sport.

Michael Mayer

The 2023 WBC was filled with great moments from the Czech Republic winning a game, Australia surprising everyone with their couple of wins, Matt Harvey and Mike Piazza leading Italy to the quarterfinals, and all the great games in the final week of the tournament, but there are two things that really stood out to me.

The first one was the crazy, fun atmospheres that were seen throughout the tournament which allowed you to dream about how Major League Baseball games could be more fun.

Select folks have called the WBC meaningless, but it was anything but that for young pitcher Duque Hebbert. The Nicaraguan reliever struck out Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, and Rafael Devers in the same inning and before he left the park, Hebbert was signed by the Detroit Tigers. The 21-year-old will pitch in affiliated ball for the first time this season after showing off his talent in the WBC. That’s exactly what this tournament is all about.

Michelle Ioannou

There was something pretty poetic about seeing two of the biggest names in MLB right now ending the WBC, wasn’t there?