DODGERS ARE THE REAL AMERICAN GLOBALIZERS, RULING TWO NATIONS WITH BLUE
Never has a U.S. sports team — including the Dream Team, including the NFL — taken over another country and demanded megastars, with Shohei Ohtani blinded by eyeballs and endless pandemonium in Tokyo
Would the lords of baseball globalize and enrapture the Dodgers? Meaning: Sending them across the planet while 29 other teams stay home in dire straits? They’ve turned their trademark blue into Tokyo’s gleaming dye, creating a home base in Japan as they have in Los Angeles for decades. They are not a hated America team, a new Evil Empire, as much as they’re saving baseball for Asia after our owners have ruined the sport here.
They want Shohei Ohtani, whose face is everywhere detectable with two eyeballs, on every billboard and every commercial, bigger than the constitutional monarchy or the Himalayan Yeti. They want Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki and the next and the next. And why wouldn’t they continue the rampage after a history of signing Hideo Nomo and others? After another powerful excursion across the Pacific Ocean, the Dodgers have overtaken a country that loves them even more.
It was stunning to stand in the streets of Barcelona and see America’s Dream Team delight Europe about basketball. It’s curious to see soccer operatives bring Lionel Messi and other big names to the U.S. And Roger Goodell thinks he’s an almighty ruler in taking the NFL to London, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Ireland and Australia. But the Dodgers are doing appreciably more than opening the season with two games against another U.S. outfit, this time the Chicago Cubs.
They are out-boy-banding the Japanese. They are demanding the wealth of megastars in a nation that produced Ohtani — the biggest baseball attraction ever, if not the greatest of stars — while the Hanshin Tigers spent the weekend blowing out the Dodgers and Cubs in exhibitions. Japan might be as adept at baseball as global basketball squads have been at the Summer Olympics.
So, welcome to the American team — not in the NFL, not in the NBA — that commands the magic of a continent. Acknowledge the golden age of Dodger Blue.
“A dream scenario,” said executive Andrew Friedman, who has spanned the waters to make it happen.
“I think our mission was accomplished, painting the country of Japan in blue,” said manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Naha to a Japanese mother and an African-American father. “I think it’s going to spur many more people to want Japanese players to come over. Because I think the confidence of Major League Baseball teams with players that come from Japan — it’s at an all-time high as far as the trust and what to expect.”
He’s being kind. His Guggenheim Baseball bosses have extended into the billion-dollar category for Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki. Other teams enter the fray on a lower level, with the Cubs featuring two Japanese players in ace Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki. But the Dodgers have seven players on contracts worth nine figures and are watched passionately by fans, with 2.2 million a game viewing the MLB regular season. They have topped a dozen massive business deals with the Japanese. Sponsorships in that land have increased 114 percent, with apparel and jerseys leaping by 183 percent. “The distance between MLB and Japanese baseball,” said Suzuki, “feels a lot closer.”
The Cubs are watching the scene from the periphery. The Dodgers are the scene. “It’s all over the world. The Dodgers are trying to get right there with the biggest organizations in the world,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “I’m talking about Real Madrid, Barcelona, all the teams that are worldwide. And I think the Dodgers are really close to that.”
Sorry to disappoint the old-timers, but Ohtani is larger than the international Babe Ruth. He hit a home run in an exhibition game, and Japan almost fell into the sea. He isn’t even pitching yet. What happens when he does? He’s just surveying the wildness. “It’s hard to tell if this is the golden age for Japanese players in the United States, because I know there’s been a lot of Japanese players that came before me,” Ohtani said. “But having five (in a game) is a big deal. It’s truly a big deal.”
His teammates are having difficulty describing Ohtani and Japan. We have to watch the games, if you’re up on Tuesday and Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. in the East and 3 a.m. in the West. “It’s like Justin Bieber times 10,” Tyler Glasnow said.
“Like traveling with the Beatles,” Max Muncy said.
“I’ve been told there’s Shohei everywhere you look,” Anthony Banda said. “Think about how Michael Jordan was. It’s the same.”
“Baseball-wise, of course, but also his humanity, I admire him very much in every way,” Yamamoto said. “He’s an example. Just being in the same space as him, I feel as if I’ll become better at baseball.”
Roberts watched him make history last season with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases. His old interpreter, the one who stole almost $17 million from Ohtani, is heading to jail. “He’s really become his own man,” the manager said. “I think his English is considerably better. He’s handling a lot of matters by himself and not having any type of conduit. I think he’s opened himself up more to staff, the players, his teammates. It’s just good to see him become his own man, and I say that in an honest and positive way.”
No one should be shocked if baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, expiring after the 2026 season, includes references to Japan and Latino nations. The two highest-paid players ever are the Dominican Republic’s Juan Soto at $765 million and Ohtani at $700 million. Absorb the joy of the Toyko Dome mobs and how they’ve transformed Shohei into a religious experience. It’s a robust reminder that other places have the best players. Commissioner Rob Manfred must protect them, unless he wants the Hanshin Tigers to become monsters.
“I think people are pretty satisfied with where they are,” Manfred said Monday. “Our conversation yesterday was that we’ve found a balance where enough players are coming to the U.S. that it drives both of our businesses. And yet, as evidenced by playing these exhibition games, their domestic product is damn good. I mean, damn good. And that’s kind of the perfect world for all of us.”
The Cubs try to be serious about baseball, but in the framework of the Dodgers, owner Tom Ricketts says it’s not possible. He has the 13th-ranked payroll in our No. 3 market. “This is just an amazing life experience,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s hard to find a reason to be in any way negative about this. It just puts you in a place of gratitude. Everybody’s very aware of the series, that is evident for sure, more than I feel like it would be in America, more people are talking about it absolutely. That’s why we love to be here. We’re lucky.”
Counsell has looked into his dictionary. “As much as anything, this is the word: kizuna, which is a Japanese word for bond. This is the start of a journey for our team,” he said. He even invited Saku Yanagaw, a Japanese comedian from Chicago, so he could speak to the team. “Probably the highlight was, when you toast in Japan,” he said, “the younger person must have their glass below the older person.”
At least Pete Crow-Armstrong didn’t hurt his hand when cutting tuna. “I didn’t think the knife would be that big,” he said. “I thought my form was pretty decent, though.”
In the end, the Cubs were left to observe the Dodgers with jaws slacked, even without Mookie Betts, who isn’t playing after losing 15 pounds with a stomach virus. “They’ve been consistently dominant for 10 years,” Counsell said. “It means you’ve got to keep getting better, and that’s what they’ve done. And then they’ve done it again this year.”
No one is certain about the fanaticism of Japanese baseball until you’ve attended games, as I have. “I get goosebumps hearing them,” Suzuki said. “Just feeling how passionate they are, it was good.”
Should the same noise be imported to America?
“I fear that something wild would happen,” he said.
Isn’t that what we miss?
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.