The Monday morning headlines in Japanese newspapers will be dominated by the result of the previous day’s general election. But speculation about the country’s political future after a tightly contested vote will be competing for space with another event taking place thousands of miles away. And all because of one man: Shohei Ohtani.
On Tuesday in Japan, millions of people are expected to devour every pitch and hit in the next instalment of the seven-game World Series between Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, with enthusiasm reaching levels usually reserved for the climax of the of domestic baseball, the Japan Series.
An injury scare notwithstanding, not even the tricky time difference – New York is 13 hours behind Tokyo – will deter the legions of Ohtani devotees, including a good number with little or no previous interest in the sport. They will watch in bars, on TV at home or, most likely, on smartphones on their way to work.
Ohtani left the field in obvious pain on Saturday after injuring his left shoulder while trying to steal second base, although the Dodgers’ manager, Dave Roberts, said he was “encouraged” by what he had heard from team staff after the game.
An injury bad enough to bring his series to a premature end – with the Dodgers leading 2-0 – would be a cruel blow for Ohtani and his compatriots. The 30-year-old, as accomplished with the bat as he is with the ball, has earned national hero status in his homeland since leaving Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters for Major League Baseball in 2018, spending six seasons with the LA Angels before moving to the Dodgers last December on a record-breaking deal.
He is widely regarded as the best active baseball player in the world and one of the most talented in the sport’s history, and has drawn inevitable comparisons with another two-way pitcher and slugger, Babe Ruth.
Ohtani is accustomed to the media frenzy that accompanies his every move, on and off the field. Serious sports fans celebrated his two American League MVP awards and the moment he became the first player from Japan to win the same league’s home-run title in 2023. But just about every facet of the man some refer to as kanpeki na hito – the perfect person – is considered fair game by the army of Japanese reporters and photographers assigned to document the “Shohei effect” – from his surprise marriage in March to the exploits of his beloved dog, Dekopin.
Early TV viewing for the World Series figures from Japan have yet to be released, but there will be no surprise if they exceed the 13 million – about 10% of the population – who tuned into the decisive fifth game of the Dodgers-San Diego Padres National League Division Series earlier this month.
Robert Whiting, an authority on Japanese baseball and author of a book about Ichiro Suzuki – one of Japan’s MLB trailblazers – attributes Ohtani’s popularity at home not just to his easygoing manner and philanthropy, but also to his ability to “get the better of American players on their own terms”.
“Critics of Japanese baseball say the players are good at the fundamentals but don’t have the size and strength of their American counterparts, that they have turned baseball into a kind of martial art with endless training and a focus on spirit,” Whiting said. “But Ohtani is bigger than most American players. He hits longer home runs and throws harder than they do. He makes people proud to be Japanese.”
Last December Ohtani, who has not pitched this season while he recovers from elbow surgery, became the most expensive baseball player in the game’s history when he signed a 10-year, $700m contract with the Dodgers before propelling them to this season’s World Series against the 27-time winners the Yankees.
Not even the arrest of his interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara, has dented Ohtani’s popularity. Mizuhara pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from the player’s bank account to pay off gambling debts to an illegal bookmaker.
Ohtani’s 50th home run ball from this season sold at auction for $4.39m, a record high price for any ball in any sport, and is now the property of a Taiwanese investment firm that fended off rival bids from Japan.
Fans from Japan bought more World Series tickets for the first two games of the series than from anywhere outside North America, according to reports, while the start of the latest series of the popular anime series One Piece has been delayed by a week to avoid a scheduling conflict with the baseball.
Japanese expectations of Ohtani have shifted from high to stratospheric following an extraordinary first year with the Dodgers. As the regular season reached its climax, he became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases, and ended with a 54-59 record.
The club’s commercial juggernaut shows little sign of slowing in Japan, helped by the presence in the series of Ohtani’s compatriot and teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who joined the Dodgers at the end of last year.
Sports shops in Tokyo are packed with Ohtani merchandise, from caps and T-shirts to stuffed toys. “I think about half of our products here are Ohtani-related items,” Kakeru Watanabe, the manager of a sports store in the capital, told Associated Press.
“And in terms of the percentage of the products sold, Ohtani-related items are even higher,” he said, adding that weekday sales had at least doubled since the Dodgers made it through to the World Series.
On the eve of his first World Series, Ohtani told reporters that he felt “blessed and really grateful” to be playing. If the boy from an unfashionable town in Japan’s northeast can avoid injury and retain his scintillating form with the bat, he will earn the gratitude of an entire nation.
