In October 2013, Japanese baseball officials, stung by the country¡¯s failure to win the World Baseball Classic earlier that year, decided to make some changes and hired Hiroki Kokubo as the manager of the national team.
Kokubo¡¯s goal was to prepare Japan for the next WBC, and the means to that end was an ambitious, multi-year plan where Japan¡¯s various national teams would operate as a single intertwined entity, much like is seen with national programs in soccer.
The impending prospect of the 2017 WBC hung over Kokubo as he began his tenure with a three-game series against Taiwan in November 2013. It looms even larger now, nearly three years later, as Kokubo prepares to face Taiwan again in a two-game series that begins March 5.
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