Yuzuka Kikuchi, sports caster, explains the highlights of the WBC!

The feeling of being swamped for the first time

The starting order for Samurai Japan?　The batting order…hmmm……… that’s the part I’m really worried about. I’m wondering what I can do from a fan’s point of view. I always enjoy that time very much.”

When asked about the highlights of the WBC (2026 World Baseball Classic), which opens on March 5, the TV personality Yuzuka Kikuchi, 26, put her hand on her chin and focused her gaze on a single point. She is currently the Saturday anchor for “WASPo x MLB” and “WASPo x MLB Sunday” (both on NHK BS, hereinafter “WASPo”). He is a self-confessed “baseball geek” and is well known for his deep knowledge of Major League Baseball.

It is hard to believe that three years have already passed since the last tournament,” he said. In other words, it has been three years of humiliation for the U.S., so the U.S. team is coming here with a determination to be the best in the world, no matter what it takes. Tarik Sukho (Detroit Tigers) and Paul Skeens (Pittsburgh Pirates) are the best pitchers in the world. They will definitely be up for the finals.

However, because of the matchups, they will not meet Japan until the finals. Japan will most likely face Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals and semifinals. We have a pretty high mountain to climb before the final against the U.S., so I hope we can somehow get over that.”

The fact that he can come up with his predictions so smoothly, without even holding the materials in his hand, shows that he is no slouch as a work poacher.

Kikuchi was scouted by her current agency while a student at Meiji University and entered the entertainment industry. She has been a TV kid since childhood, and she says that she was a girl who longed to be “someone on TV. That path ultimately changed drastically when she discovered baseball.

When I was a sophomore in college, a friend invited me to Jingu Stadium for the first time to watch the Rokko Daigaku baseball game. I didn’t know the rules, but the atmosphere of the stadium as a whole, the feeling of everyone cheering for each other, and the more I learned about the game, the more I felt like I was really getting swamped, and I became a baseball fan. I also became interested in professional baseball when Nobuhito Morishita, 28, a pitcher in the same year in the Meiji University baseball team I was cheering for at the time, joined the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

However, Kikuchi is known to be an ardent Chiba Lotte fan. ……

Scores are completely self-explanatory.

The year I graduated from university, I became an anchor of “WASPO” in April, and I worked with Tomohiro Kuroki, 52, a former ace of the Lotte baseball team and a baseball commentator. He was the “hot” Johnny (editor’s note: Kuroki’s nickname during his playing days), but his personality was extremely warm and he told me, “Don’t be afraid to have fun and enjoy yourself,” even though I didn’t know what was right and left.

He was like a father to me and kindly taught me many things. The next year, Johnny was appointed as Lotte’s pitching coach, and I replaced him with Shihito Iguchi (51), who had been the manager of Lotte until the previous year. I had some connections with people related to Lotte, and before I knew it, I had become a Lotte fan (laughs).

Four years have passed since Kikuchi became an anchor for “WASPo. Her love of baseball is not limited to the realm of a mere fan. During this time, she has acquired the Baseball Knowledge Test and is now able to keep score.

I sometimes keep score while watching a game at the stadium, but I don’t know the correct answer because I didn’t learn it from anyone. …… I can’t miss even one pitch, so I just concentrate on watching the game. However, when I put it on, I feel that I can understand how the pitcher confronts the batter and the preparation for the game, even if only a little. Not just the batter’s at-bats, but the pitch distribution and tactics throughout the game. I could also tell that the hitter was aiming for the right side of the plate, and I could get an inkling of his psychology. I had to do that for three hours, so my eyes, head, and heart were busy. Yes, it uses up a lot of stamina.

Kikuchi sometimes goes to the batting center for a change of pace. His goal is to be able to throw a 100-kilogram fastball and hit a 100-kilogram pitch.

I threw the first pitch at ZOZO Marine Stadium in July ’23, and my max during practice was about 65.5 kilograms. I was so nervous that I bounced the ball, but in practice I was able to throw from the mound to the catcher’s mitt with no bounces. If possible, in the majors. Of course, it’s just a dream.

When it comes to hitting, I can only hit the ball as hard as I can at the slowest corner of the batting cages. I was allowed to stand in the batter’s box once on a job, but I was too weak for a 140-kilometer fastball (laughs). (Laughs.) Maybe I’m not suited to hitting.

”I don’t say that lightly.”

Her dream is to be on a mound in the Majors, and Kikuchi had the experience of covering the MLB All-Star Game held in Atlanta, USA, last July.

I was very impressed, of course, to be able to interview Shohei Ohtani, 31, of the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Kikuchi said. I was of course thrilled to be able to interview Shohei Ohtani (31, Los Angeles Dodgers), but I also got to see Aaron Judge (NY Yankees) and Bradimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays) take batting practice right behind me in the cage. They were really big and their body thickness was amazing. It was amazing, really. When he swung the bat lightly, the ball flew easily into the stands. That power. The atmosphere of the stadium and the spectators was the same, but there was so much information that I could live with the memories of that experience for the rest of my life.

The WBC, where these top-notch Major Leaguers will gather, will open soon. Kikuchi spoke of the appeal of the WBC as follows: “The last tournament was a great experience for me.

In the last WBC, Munetaka Murakami (26, Chicago White Sox) was in bad shape, but in the semifinal game against Mexico, he hit a good-bye hit. Right up until that moment, I was thinking, ‘Is this it? In the WBC, there are always unbelievable dramas like scenarios that no one can write. …… That’s why I want you to watch the WBC without missing a single game.

Back to the beginning of this article, what will the Samurai Japan lineup look like in the end?

Well, what will the Samurai Japan lineup look like in the end? I can’t say that lightly. I think I will continue to worry about it until just before the announcement.

Her love of baseball is definitely genuine.

Costume cooperation by Fanatics Japan