Can't really even blame the pitching in this one.
Our starter, whomever the fuck he was, but us behind the 8 ball, but we should've feasted on Nip pitching.
The American game is so driven by analytics now that we can't win these short tournaments. Baseball and Basketball in America have turned into home run derbys / 3-pt contests, and strategy has fallen to the wayside.
Japan comes in playing 1980s style baseball woth "inferior" players and wins because this is how baseball should be played. We deserve to lose. America can't simply slug their way to dominance without any Big League pitching.