In a stunning act of self-imposed accountability, Samurai Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata has decided to punish himself following the team’s shocking failure.

Samurai Japan is still reeling from the effects of their shocking WBC loss to Team Venezuela 8-5. With Shohei Ohtani, the reigning tournament MVP, voicing his frustration, Ibata has decided to step down from his position following Japan’s departure from the tournament.

Ibata took over managing Samurai Japan in October 2023. He resigned from his position at the team hotel, saying, “Results are everything.” The Yakayu Cosmopolitan reported the news on X.

The defending champions, Samurai Japan, entered the tournament as the favorites but suffered a humiliating loss for the first time in the quarterfinals.

Ibata had assembled a team with eight major leaguers that included Shohei Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki, Masataka Yoshida, Kazuma Okamoto, Munetaka Murakami, Tomoyuki Sugano, Yoshinobu Yamamato, and Yusei Kikuchi.

It was the underdog Venezuela that opened the scoreboard.

First with Ronald Acuna Jr’s 401-foot homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Then, Ohtani leveled the score with a 427-foot homer of his own, and by the third inning, Japan was leading 5-2. Following that, Venezuela started gaining the upper hand.

It came with Maikel Garcia’s two-run homer, which Wilyer Abreu followed with a 3-run homer. The scoreboard read 7-5 with Venezuela in the lead.

Finally, Ezequiel Tovar sealed Venezuela’s score to 8-5 in the eighth inning by scoring on Japanese pitcher Atsuki Taneichi’s throwing error. Yamamoto, the ace (threw 2 2/3 innings, allowing no runs and no hits while striking out two against Chinese Taipei), allowed two runs in four innings while Japan’s bullpen allowed six runs in the final five innings of the match. This was the relief corps’ worst-ever finish in the tournament.

But this is not the only upset the World Baseball Classic is seeing this year.

Team Italy defeated Team USA, 8-6, in the pool play, ending their undefeated streak.

Venezuela will next play Italy in the semi-finals.

Team Venezuela is appearing in the semi-finals for the first time since 2009. With this victory, they have secured the second spot at the LA28 Olympic baseball competition as they return to the last four.

Ibata took charge as the manager of Japan’s national baseball team to build an “invincible Samurai Japan.” Under his leadership, Japan won the Asia Professional Baseball Championship in 2023.

Baseball writer Jim Allen praised Ibata on X.

“When I asked Ibata about whether Maki’s Pool C base-running error dampened Japan’s confidence, Ibata said, ‘It was my mistake for not asking more quickly for a video review.’ I’m not saying he’s a good manager, but good managers protect their players.”

On March 8, against Australia, Japan’s Shugo Maki was picked off at second base, ending the inning and wasting a scoring opportunity. At the time, Shohei Ohtani was at the batter’s box, and Japan had the bases loaded with two outs.

Ibata took the blame for not asking for a video review and protected Maki from any potential backlash.

In the QF postgame conference, Ibata had a positive message for Team Japan’s future.

“So I know we lost this time, but Team Japan — I would hope Japan would get better next time. I will hope Team Japan will win next time.”

But for Shohei Ohtani, who is used to winning, it was a difficult thing to process.

Shohei Ohtani faces dejection

His time at the Los Angeles Dodgers has made Ohtani used to winning, be it the back-to-back World Series rings or MVP awards. In WBC 2023, Ohtani, the MVP, struck out Team USA’s Mike Trout to seal Japan’s victory.

But ironically, this time it was Ohtani, who popped off to shortstop Ezequiel Tovar.

Ohtani spoke to the media in the corridor of LoanDepot Park at 1:31 a.m. after their quarterfinal loss.

“All I can say is that it’s really frustrating. It was the kind of game where we had chances to win. It wasn’t like we were completely overwhelmed from start to finish. I think there were definitely moments where we had opportunities to win. …We showed what we do well, but in the end, they overpowered us,” Shotime expressed his emotions while tipping his hat to Venezuela’s performance.

But Ohtani showed why he is the best in the job.

He averaged .462 in batting with three homers and seven RBI in 13 at-bats, recording a .611 OBP.

But winning is ultimately what matters most, Shotime’s remarks confirmed it.

“Of course, it was a wonderful experience, but if you don’t win it all, then in a sense it’s a failure. That’s probably what the result comes down to.”