THE SPORTS KINGDOM REQUIRES ALL OF US TO ADMIRE OHTANI, IN A LIFE’S MOMENT
His dominance in a Japan homecoming is a reminder: He’ll appear at Dodger Stadium and at least 22 other sites this season, demanding anyone with an interest in humanity to show up and simply gaze
If he happens to be a video game or a computerized manipulation, seats are available beside platforms across America. Shohei Ohtani will link his superplanetary hands onto a bat and swing it for home runs — he crashed two in Tokyo, one in Game 2 of the regular season — and eventually start pitching in the most blessed or blasted experience of all-time baseball lore.
Even a minor-league ballpark in Tampa will host him among 23 sites, not including a Dodgers postseason that he could transport to another globe. Ohtani just re-asserted ownership of Japan, where he glazed native eyeballs for the long term and prompted his manager to suggest we’re not watching a human being. Normally, we chuckle.
Not now.
“I know Shohei puts his pants on like we all do — one leg at a time,” Dave Roberts said. “But if there’s ever a superhero, I think Shohei just seems like a superstar. In the biggest of games, the biggest of moments, he always seems to deliver.”
An electronic ploy? Teammate Tommy Edman says no. “It’s kind of ridiculous. It like he’s just playing a video game,” he said. “We’re all out there grinding and trying to do anything we can to win a game. But he’s just playing a different game altogether. It’s pretty crazy to see the stuff he does on a daily basis.”
If the sport awaits a commissioner and a union leader to fix a swelled mess, at least we have Ohtani to contemplate. There was no reason to awaken in the middle of back-to-back nights except flipping on a TV and watching him. He hit a fifth-inning homer toward the Tokyo Dome roof today, gripping 42,365 fans who paid more than a meal of Wagyu beef and Matsutake mushrooms. He was on base five times and scored three runs in a 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, also fueled by Roki Sasaki’s pitching debut, including four 100 mph fastballs in the first inning and splitters that won’t be nicked for years. Fans roared when they saw Ohtani, then settled back into a sacred hush.
Were they watching a god? The god? No longer is that a question.
“I’m happy that my teammates got to experience Japan on and off the field, but most importantly coming away with two wins is something really huge for us,” Ohtani said. “I’m glad we’re going to head back to the U.S. on a good note.”
The expected note is a 2-0 start and a week off before the Dodgers play 12 of their next 18 games at home. They will not finish 162-0, but it’s perfectly reasonable to think they’ll break MLB’s single-season record of 116 victories — held by the 2001 Mariners and 1906 Cubs. The 1998 Yankees finished a championship postseason with 125 wins. Why not? Ohtani manhandled the Cubs, who are supposed to win the National League Central, even without injured Freddie Freeman and virus-stricken Mookie Betts. Say more, Clayton Kershaw. “I think that’s why he’s changing the game in America,” Ohtani’s Hall of Fame teammate said. “I think the financials for the Dodgers, especially, are showing that.”
Ohtani will lead the Dodgers to multiple titles. He is expected to make $100 million in endorsement money this year, atop a $700 million contract that is mostly deferred for eight seasons beyond 2025. How almighty was his homecoming? It didn’t bother him or his team when the Cubs returned the Hex of Steve Bartman. In the sixth, Ian Happ hit a foul ball down the third-base line. Max Muncy chased it, maneuvering around a net by the stands and placing his glove in possible position to catch It. But Rodney Peete — yes, the former NFL quarterback — was standing in the third row and caught the ball with his glove before Muncy could reach it.
Some fans were sitting, the proper position when a ball is nearby. Peete stretched far enough that he protected his wife, actress and singer Holly Robinson-Peete, whose face was stressed. “Crazy how the ball found me!” he wrote on social media, not mentioning that Muncy glared at him. At one point, Peete stared at the field with a smirk.
Who really cares? The couple’s son, RJ, is a clubhouse attendant for the Dodgers. He is 27 and has lived most of his life with an autism spectrum disorder. The players hug him each day. Muncy will be fine. The Dodgers have Shohei.
“What had happened wassss those foul balls were coming at us left and right in that section. Head on a swivel,” Holly wrote. “That’s why they gave us helmets and gloves just in case!! That thing was coming straight for my head!!! My former QB (thrice mlb drafted 3rd baseman) might be retired but what he’s not gonna do is let me get hit Sorry Max!”
She also pointed out: #DodgersWin.
The message will be imprinted 100 times, 110 times and — dare I say — 126 times or more. You may not like baseball. You will love Ohtani, the video game or the human.
He’s Jordan. He’s Ali. He’s Phelps. He’s Messi. He’s Tiger.
Is he better?
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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.