The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the 2024 World Series last month after adding Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to their roster in the previous off-season, with both players playing a massive role in the success of the team this year. The move was a masterstroke off the field as well, since the Dodgers have generated a large fanbase in the Far East by signing the two Japanese superstars.
Nippon Professional Baseball insider Jim Allen recently shed some light on the popularity of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in their native country. He feels that many Japanese baseball fans want the Dodgers to do well, as they want to see their icons succeed in the MLB.
Shohei Ohtani played six seasons in the major leagues for the Los Angeles Angels until he became a free agent at the end of the 2023 season. He then signed for the Los Angeles Dodgers on a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract. A few weeks later, the Dodgers also added Yoshinobu Yamamoto on a 12-year, $325 million deal, spending more than a billion dollars on the two Japanese players.
Jim Allen offered his thoughts while speaking to Doug McKain of Dodgers Nation on Sunday.
“Ohtani is such a magnet,” Allen said. “Yamamoto is a tremendous, unique talent. But Shohei Ohtani’s charisma is off the charts, and people want to see him do well.”
Shohei Ohtani posted a historic season in his first year with the Dodgers even though he was unable to take the mound. He became the first player to reach the 50-50 club, eventually ending the season with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases.
Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamaoto also impressed for the Dodgers in his first major league season, although he missed a large chunk of it due to injury. Nevertheless, he picked up two wins from his four starts in the postseason, including a dominant display in Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees.
Japanese ace could join Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto at Dodgers
Roki Sasaki was a part of the Japan team that won the WBC 2023 (Photo Credit: IMAGN)
The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently being projected as the top destination for Roki Sasaki, the young Japanese ace who has decided to move across the Pacific Ocean to join the MLB free agent market this year. Having already succeeded in bringing in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani to the team, the Dodgers are certainly strong candidates in the race.
However, Jim Allen feels many Japanese fans might not appreciate the Dodgers becoming a team filled with superstars that utterly dominates the entire league.
“People in Japan don’t understand the way MLB works,” Allen said. “That there are like six teams that really, really want to compete, and maybe ten teams that want to compete if everything goes right. Maybe six teams that are willing to compete, if everything goes really, really right, and six teams going, ‘Yeah, who cares.'””So, when they see the Dodgers doing all that, they think, ‘You know, isn’t that a little too much? They are too strong,” he added.
Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were all part of the Japan team that clinched the World Baseball Classic in 2023.
