TORONTO — Major League Baseball’s biggest star is back on the sport’s biggest stage, but the circumstances are rather different from last year.
Both the league and Ohtani experienced a Beatlemania-type of fan interest and media attention as the two-way superstar reached the World Series for the first time in his career. Now an MLB champion and nearly two years into his Dodgers tenure, Ohtani is more acclimated to the limelight, and he was squarely focused on the upcoming games against the Blue Jays as he faced another onslaught of press during Thursday’s media day.
“The Blue Jays are the team with the most momentum, and they’re also very talented,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “So my job, our job, is to ensure that we win the first couple games here so that we can stop their momentum and head back to L.A.”
The other key divergence from last year’s World Series is that Ohtani is back to pitching after recovering last year from an elbow injury, and he has once more reached elite form on the mound. During the clinching Game 4 of the National League Championship Series last week, Ohtani hit three home runs while also striking out 10 on the mound in what has been widely described as the greatest performance in a single baseball game.
As a result, this World Series will be the first in which Ohtani’s two-way skills, which have fueled widespread fascination among fans around the globe, are on full display. As of now, Ohtani is likely to start Game 4 on the mound for the Dodgers.
“If there’s a rock-star type of fandom in sports, he is that,” said Dodgers pitcher Michael Kopech. “Athletes are usually based around a team, but there are certain players that stand above not just the team, but an entire organization, like MLB itself, and Shohei is that player. I think none of us have ever seen anything like this, and then he’s only getting better.”
International Aspects
This year’s World Series matchup, meanwhile, recalls the Blue Jays’ active pursuit of Ohtani during his free agency after the 2023 season—a scenario that led to a then-record $700 million contract with the Dodgers. There was lots of drama around that, including widespread, but inaccurate, speculation that Ohtani was on a private plane headed for Toronto so he could sign with the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider quipped that he hoped Ohtani would return the Blue Jays hat given to him during a free-agency meeting nearly two years ago, as well as a jacket for his beloved dog, Decoy. Ohtani said that it was still in his garage and that he plans to keep it as a gift.
“It’s an unfortunate reality as a free agent that you get to really pick one team,” Ohtani said. “The decision had to be made, but again, [the Blue Jays] organization has been superb. They have a lot of awesome people.”
Ohtani’s presence back in the World Series, meanwhile, will undoubtedly spur more historic levels of viewership in his home country of Japan. The NLCS averaged 7.34 million viewers there, up 26% from last year’s record-setting figure. The Game 4 heroics, meanwhile, produced an average of 10.26 million in a country of about 123 million.
Those averages and peaks are both expected to grow further as the Dodgers aim to become MLB’s first back-to-back champion in 25 years.
