The 2023 World Baseball Classic came down to a pair of Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday: Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout, with two outs in the ninth inning of a one-run game and the championship on the line. If it happened in a movie, it would be kind of cheesy, but it happened in real life and it was incredible.

"Obviously didn't come out the way I wanted it to," Trout told MLB.com following his game-ending strikeout. "I think as a baseball (fan), everybody wanted to see it. He won round one."

"I've seen Japan winning and I just wanted to be part of it," said Ohtani, who was also named the tournament MVP. "I really appreciate that I was able to have the great experience. As I say, the next generation, the kids who are playing baseball, I was hoping that those people would like to play baseball. That would make me happy."

The WBC is over and Japan is the champion for the third time, and now Ohtani and Trout will rejoin forces and try to get the Angels back to the postseason. The Halos have not been to the postseason since 2014 — they have baseball's longest postseason drought — and they haven't won a postseason game since 2009.