Samurai Japan kicked off its World Baseball Classic tournament run on Friday morning with a dominant 13-0 win over Chinese Taipei at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. 

The defending champions certainly sent a message to the rest of the tournament field in the victory, which was punctuated by a 10-run second inning.

As is customary whenever he takes the field, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani led the way, going 3-for-4 with a grand slam, a run scored and five RBIs. His teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw 2.2 scoreless innings, walking three and striking out two.

The game only went seven innings because of the run rule.

Outside of Ohtani's heroics, Toronto Blue Jays star Kazuma Okamoto went 1-for-4 with an RBI single and Boston Red Sox slugger Masataka Yoshida was 2-for-3 with and RBI. Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs also had a hit.

Okamoto signed a four-year, $60 million deal this offseason with the Jays and is expected to be a big part of the offensive attack, especially in the wake of Bo Bichette signing with the New York Mets and Anthony Santander being lost for most (or all) of the season with a labrum injury.

Okamoto had six seasons of 30 homers or more in Japan and his power/patience approach should fit well with a Jays lineup that advanced to Game 7 of the World Series in 2025.

Given that Japan is expected to make another deep run in the tournament, Okamoto could be away from the Jays for as many as three weeks. The final is March 17 and Opening Day is March 27, which wouldn't give him much time to get re-acclimated.

However, the same situation is facing multiple Jays players. Alejandro Kirk (Mexico), Ernie Clement (USA) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Dominican Republic), could all make deep runs.

--Michael Soroka of the Arizona Diamondbacks is playing for Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic, and he recently spoke about how the 2025 Blue Jays inspired the Canadian baseball community. He says this team is trying to extend that inspiration.

--The Blue Jays announced their preliminary 40-man roster for the upcoming "Spring Breakout" game on March 21. The roster will be pared down to between 23-27 in the next two weeks or so. Each of the top 30 prospects for the organization are on the preliminary roster, though some (like Jake Bloss), won't play because of injury.

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