MIAMI (AP) — Shohei Ohtani walked off the infield after Japan’s World Baseball Classic ended, just like three years ago, only the final out could not have been more different.
Ohtani triumphantly tossed his glove and cap in 2023, then stretched his arms wide as teammates mobbed him when he struck out Mike Trout to end a 3-2 win over the U.S. that finished Japan’s third WBC title.
On Saturday night, baseball's best player jogged across the very same loanDepot park diamond to Japan’s bench after his infield popup sealed an 8-5 quarterfinal loss to Venezuela. He dejectedly detached his batting gloves, took off his helmet and headed down the dugout steps past shocked teammates who leaned on the railing and stared at the celebrating Venezuelans.
“I was really disappointed,” Ohtani said.
Japan, international baseball's preeminent power, had won 11 straight WBC games dating to a 2017 semifinal loss to the U.S. and had reached the semis in all five previous WBCs. It is the only nation to win two in a row, in 2006 and 2009. Japan also beat the U.S. in the gold medal game at the last Olympic baseball tournament when the Samurai Warriors hosted in 2021.
After Ronald Acuña Jr.’s stunning leadoff homer in the first off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani matched the feat by going deep starting the bottom half against Ranger Suárez.
Shota Morishita, who entered after Seiya Suzuki got hurt in the first inning, put Japan ahead 5-2 with a three-run homer in the third. It appeared a Monday semifinal against upstart Italy was likely to determine who would play the U.S. or the Dominican Republic for the title the following night.
But Chihiro Sumida gave up Maikel Garcia’s two-run homer in the fifth, sparking the Venezuelans in the first base dugout and fans in the crowd of 34,548 that largely favored the South Americans.
Then Hiromi Itoh allowed Wilyer Abreu’s three-run drive in the sixth that put La Vinotinto ahead 7-5, and Atsuki Taneichi’s wild pickoff throw in the eighth brought in another run.
Ohtani was intentionally walked ahead of Morishita's homer, but didn't come through in his final three plate appearances, striking out in the fourth and seventh innings before making the final out in a 1-2-3 ninth.
Japan had a solid foundation, bringing back about half its 2023 WBC roster.
Ohtani and Yamamoto last year helped the Los Angeles Dodgers become Major League Baseball's first repeat World Series champion in a quarter-century, with Ohtani earning a fourth MVP award and Yamamoto selected World Series MVP.
But Japan was without Roki Sasaki, the hard-throwing pitcher who remained with the Dodgers at spring training after an injury interrupted rookie season. And Ohtani was only a hitter and not a two-way star, being careful with his pitching arm after returning last year from a second major elbow operation.
Ohtani led Japanese batters with a .462 average, three homers and seven RBIs. But the Warriors finished with a .284 batting average, down from .299 three years ago, and a 3.35 ERA, up from a tournament-best 2.29.
“We didn’t have an option for Ohtani to pitch from the middle of the game,” Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata said.
“Of course, I would have wanted him," Ibata added, "but I didn’t have a choice.”
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Japan's Seiya Suzuki is helped off the field after being injured at second base at the with the first inning during a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game against Venezuela, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Japan team line up to greet three fans after after a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game against Venezuela, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Japan's Shohei Ohtani reacts after fly out during the ninth inning of a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game against Japan, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration will require all 50 states to explain their plans to revalidate some of their Medicaid providers in a national escalation of anti-fraud efforts that have so far largely focused on specific states, Dr. Mehmet Oz said Tuesday.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator said during a Politico health care summit that his agency plans to ask states to “own” the problem of health care fraud this week with requests for states to share their strategies within 30 days.
“It's an example of what we'd like them to do to prove that they're serious about this,” Oz said onstage Tuesday. “And if you don't take it seriously, it indicates to us that we might have to take the audits that we're doing to the different states more aggressively,” he said, without elaborating.
Tuesday's announcement is part of a federal campaign to tackle waste, fraud and abuse in federal Medicaid and Medicare programs that so far has mostly targeted Democratic states — and at least once has erred in its accusations.
Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that CMS made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe in New York. The acknowledgment deepened doubts in the administration's methods and raised a common criticism that has been made about the second Trump administration — that it tends to attack first and confirm the facts later.
In addition to New York, CMS has approached at least four other states with investigations into potential health care fraud and halted some $243 million in Medicaid payments to one of them, Minnesota, over fraud concerns. It also is blocking for six months any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or certain other supplies around the country to address the potential for fraud. In addition, federal officials made several arrests earlier this month related to alleged hospice fraud schemes in the Los Angeles area.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. It's unclear whether Tuesday's move is part of that effort, though Oz has been working closely with Vance on other investigations related to the task force. Asked for details on the new audit, a spokesperson for CMS said the agency was researching the AP's inquiry.
Oz justified Tuesday's move by saying federal health programs in some states have enrolled large numbers of providers who aren't providing real care to patients, but instead profiting from fraud. He said the requests for states to verify the legitimacy of Medicaid providers will be focused on “high risk areas,” but didn’t explain what those entail.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have blamed for allowing fraud to happen in federally funded programs including Medicaid, welcomed Oz’s announcement.
Walz told reporters Tuesday that Minnesota hadn’t received the request yet, but the Democratic governor said his state is already moving ahead with the revalidation process and has made significant improvements. Minnesota sued CMS in February in an attempt to stop it from withholding Medicaid funds. That case is still ongoing, and the money has not yet been released, but CMS wrote to state officials last month that the agency had approved the state’s corrective action plan.
Asked during the Politico interview whether there was a risk that Trump administration initiatives could eliminate, slow down or harm essential health care programs, Oz said he expects the opposite. He said Medicaid and Medicare are the “crown jewels” of our nation.
“I believe this audit and others like it will save the programs we care most about,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed to this report.
FILE - Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a news conference on efforts to combat fraud, in the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner, File)
