Ax

Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? 

Isaiah 10:15

So, online, people are saying Shohei is a god in his hometown. I've never been to Iwate, so I can't really say, but I suspect if it is anything like the rest of Japan, the people there probably do love baseball a little too much & God not enough. So far in this tournament Japan has beaten all comers, but that was 4 countries (China, Czech Republic, Korea, Oz) which are mostly irreligious. Australia 🌏 is probably the most Christian of the 4, but even there the population voted for gay marriage, showing an allegiance to secular rather than Christian values. Now for the first time Japan faces a far more traditionally Catholic country, Italy. Can they prevail? Much stronger on paper, certainly,  Japan is 15 ranks higher than Italy. But Taipei was ranked 2nd, now they are out. Sports betting is of course mostly outlawed here, but if I were allowed a bet, I would be putting a quid on Italy for the upset. It's true Japan's pitching is far more dominant than Italy's, and Japan has a big home advantage, but Italy have scored 20 runs so far. Ladbrokes, a major UK bookmaker, has Japan at 1-7 on, major favorites, but Italy is only 19-5. To explain, if you put 100 yen on Japan, you would win only 14 yen. With a Italy win, you stand to gain 380 yen. To give you some perspective, in other words Italy are only slightly more likely to lose than Trump in 2024 (currently 3-1, 300 yen!)  I like those odds! Japan usually loses to Catholic countries at ⚽, (Croatia being the most recent example) but this is baseball. Can Japan break the curse? Watch this space!