Fans in awe of Shohei Ohtani's match-winning sweeper at 2023 WBC - "The 'See you later' pitch"

Shohei Ohtani's sweeper at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, striking out Ls Angeles Angels' teammate Mike Trout, has been coommended as one of the best pitches by pitching metrics expert Rob Friedman, commonly known as pitching Ninja on Twitter.

"2023 PitchingNinja Award: Pitch of the Year. Winner: Shohei Ohtani's Sweeper K'ing Mike Trout to win the World Baseball Classic" - PitchingNinja

The stage was set, and two of the biggest baseball-playing nations collided at the WBC finals, with the highly stacked Team USA up against the Samurais of Japan.

Japan led the 2017 WBC winners, Team USA, 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs when the face-off for the last out squared off two teammates in the likes of Shotime and Trout. Shohei Ohtani then threw a wicked low-hanging sweeper, which struck out Mike Trout and gave Team Japan their third WBC title.

Fans took to Twitter to reply to Pitching Ninja's post and showed their appreciation for Shotime.

"This tournament, more specifically this moment and Randy Arozeranas catch made me a baseball fan for life" - KickpunchP

"This for me was the sports moment of 2023. Glad I was awake to see the inning playout hoping for this matchup and it paying off. Completely bonkers staked and tension and it paid off. Tremendous at bat. Awesome" - steve_nebraska

"The... "See you later" pitch" - jus_SANTANA

"I listened to the game on MLB Audio last spring but that's the first time I saw the at-bat" - OHoopty

"Baseball is fun" - XDXJPN

"Dang, that was some pitch" - OHoopty

"It's hard not to be romantic about baseball" - itrodman

"Ohtani this year: Hardest hit ball of the WBC. Fastest pitch thrown of the WBC. 1.175 OPS in spring training. 1.103 OPS in the regular season. 3 HR in 9 games as a hitter. 18 K in 12 innings as a pitcher. What on earth is This Man going to get paid in free agency?!" - notgaetti

Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout may part ways in 2024

With the 2023 MLB season coming to an end, the offseason business market to reinforce the unit is now, and all teams will start making a list of targets they wish to acquire.

Angels' fans are trying to adjust to the possibility of not having Shohei Ohtani on their roster for 2024 as he hits free agency this offseason and will be a hot prospect amongst rich suitors.

If Ohtani moves, that would end the six-year partnership with colleague and friend Mike Trout, thereby forcing the Halos to make the necessary changes and try to build a team around Trout in 2024.