Samurai Japan manager Atsunori Inaba could've found himself caught between two worlds in the aftermath of Japan's championship-clinching victory over South Korea at the Asia Professional Baseball Championship on Sunday night.
Inaba, in his first turn as a manager anywhere, had just won the tournament in front of him, but the focus was on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the tournament he was hired in July to win.
While victory in his maiden voyage in international waters as a manager was something to be legitimately pleased with, Inaba seemed to understand winning the APBC was never the goal. Whether Japan won or lost the regional tournament against South Korea and Taiwan, the goal of the event was to allow Inaba to gain managerial experience and begin to create a foundation to build upon on the road to 2020.
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