Tokyo – Was the Crack of shohei ohtani’s batThe roars From the multitude of Tokyo Domo And the beeps of credit card machines In the Massive Merchandise Center Selling Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Dodgers Loads.
Everything must have been music for the ears of the Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.
The 2025 season could not have had a much better start for sport, which showed its international attraction during last week in Japan. Tokyo Dome organized a multitude of capacity of approximately 42,000 for the four games, Two exhibitions against Japanese teams And two regular seasonal games, and thousands more arrived at the center to enjoy the show of a successful trip abroad.
Everything is part of the MLB winning streak, since barrels towards its national opening day on March 27. The game has a solid health with a slight increase in stadium assistance and a faster game rhythm. Thanks to a series of rules changes which began in 2023.
“To the city of Tokyo and the country of Japan, on behalf of the Dodgers and the major baseball leagues, we just want to thank,” said the manager of the Dodgers, Dave Roberts. “You were all such great hosts.
“I hope we have made a good show.”
It is difficult to discuss the opposite. Ohtani’s imposing solitary home run In the 6-3 victory of the Dodgers on Wednesday night I put an exclamation point in a sweep of two games in which five Japanese players returned home, including four who played quite well, navigating the suffocating pressure of acting in front of their local fans.
Shota Imanaga of Chicago and Yoshinobu Yamamoto de los Angeles began with the first launching duel of Japanese in the history of the opening day. Both delivered, with Imanaga launching four inputs without score and Yamamot In the 4-1 victory of the Dodgers.
In the second game, the rookie of the Dodgers, Roki Sasaki, made his debut in the big leagues, shooting four fast balls of 100 mph to start his career in Three electrifying inputs, if a bit erratic, That showed its potential. Seiya Suzuki of Chicago was the only one with a quiet return home, without hits in both games.
But the center of attention was, without a doubt, Ohtani, who handled the big expectations with grace and skill. It was 3 by 8 with a couple of walks, including the solitary home run that has just cleared the wall in the right center field, giving the Dodgers a 6-2 advantage.
Even Pete Crow-Armstrong of Chicago involuntarily contributed to the fairy tale scene, turning Ohtani’s home homer in the stands in the stands Where a 10 -year -old Japanese child I caught it and became an instant celebrity.
“You know, it’s not surprising,” Roberts said. “Nothing Shohei surprises me. Every night they came to see Shhehei act and organize a show. And as Shhehei does, he always seems to deliver.
“It was a great moment for everyone to reach a home run here at the Tokyo Dome.”
The festive scene was in a marked contrast with the two -game series last year in South Korea between the Dodgers and the parents of San Diego, when the news of a game scandal that involved the translator of Ohtani, Ipei Mizuhara, spoiled the series and briefly drew the reputation of Ohtani.
Later, Mizuhara declared himself guilty of bank and fiscal fraud after he stole almost $ 17 million from the Dodgers Player bank account. He He was sentenced to almost five years in the federal prison. In February.
Ohtani was never involved in the scandal, and the toletero responded to agitation with one of the best seasons in the history of the MLB, becoming the first player have at least 50 home runs and 50 bases stolen in a season and helping the Dodgers Win the World Series About the New York Yankees.
The 30 -year -old baseball heroic during the past year have made the Awesome $ 700 million contract, 10 years He signed with the Dodgers looked like a bargain. He is now trying to return to the field as a bidirectional player, pointing to a May return to the mound while trying to launch for the first time from elbow surgery in 2023.
It is fair to wonder how much more time of Ohtani’s surgical repair body can maintain this rhythm. He had gone to shoulder surgery (without launch) during the low season to repair a torn labrum after an injury suffered in game 2 of the World Series and has now had two important surgeries in his release side.
But if we have learned something since Ohtani reached the big leagues, the conventional baseball wisdom does not seem to apply to one of the best players that the game has seen.
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