Los Angeles Angels stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani lit the baseball world on fire after they faced off in the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic Finals. Trout ended up striking out to his Angels teammate on a full count in the top of the ninth inning to seal the WBC championship for Japan with a 3-2 victory. While that in itself is newsworthy, it might be Trout's comments after the game that allude to an even bigger move down the line that could shake up the MLB contending picture.

Speaking with reporters after the game, Trout, perhaps, hinted at a future matchup against Ohtani on the diamond — which wouldn't come until the 2026 WBC unless either he or the Angels' dual threat moves on to greener pastures via free agency or trade within the near future.

“He won Round 1,” Trout said, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

As a result, fans couldn't help but speculate at a future where Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani line up against each other on an MLB diamond.

Of course, there's always the possibility that fans are just reading too much into what appears to be, at first glance, an innocuous statement from Mike Trout. However, given the Angels' performance over the past few seasons, the speculation regarding Trout and Shohei Ohtani's futures is understandable.

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In particular, Ohtani – the unanimous 2021 AL MVP and the MVP of the 2023 WBC — will enter free agency at the conclusion of the 2023 MLB season. And with how well the 28-year-old Japanese international has played on both the plate and the mound, he could very well command a contract far beyond the Angels' price range.

In fact, according to some analysts, Shohei Ohtani's next contract could be in the $500 million range, which would blow Aaron Judge's nine-year, $360 million deal with the New York Yankees and Mike Trout's 12-year, $426.5 million Angels contract out of the water.

Perhaps teams such as the Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, or San Francisco Giants could snatch Ohtani away from the Angels in the near future to make Round 2 between Trout and Ohtani come to fruition.