The last time Shohei Ohtani appeared for Team Japan on home soil, his trophy case was almost entirely vacant.
That’s difficult to believe, considering all the Dodger mega-star has achieved since. But entering the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Ohtani had captured one measly MVP Award. And though he already established himself as a generational superstar and a singular two-way force, a 62-homer campaign from Aaron Judge in 2022 had relegated Ohtani to a second-place MVP finish.
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He’d experienced a dose of team success in Japan, winning an NPB title as a 21-year-old in 2016, but his stateside playoff résumé was completely barren. Through five seasons with the discombobulated Angels, Ohtani had not appeared in a single postseason game. October, for him, was a month of recuperation.
His track record with Samurai Japan, the country’s national baseball team, wasn’t much better. An ankle injury forced him out of the 2017 WBC quite late in the process. That qualified as a massive disappointment, as Ohtani, months removed from his first and only NPB MVP, was already the nation’s biggest star. Japan, without its phenom, crashed out in the semis.
So ahead of the 2023 tournament, the pressure was heavy. Famously, Ohtani exceeded all expectations, leading Japan to WBC glory over Team USA with a tournament-ending strikeout of Angels teammate Mike Trout. That performance was simultaneously an opening ceremony for what may just be the greatest three-year run in sporting history. It’s up there, at the very least.
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Three seasons, three MVP awards, two World Series titles, that WBC trophy, a $700 million contract with the Dodgers, transcendent superstardom and all that comes with it. He has altered the sport, globalizing the game like no one before him.
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Ohtani’s stampede of dominance was not without road bumps. A Tommy John surgery in late 2023 kept Ohtani off the mound for all of 2024 and much of 2025. He also sidestepped a gambling scandal that sent his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, to federal prison. Neither issue sent Ohtani scrambling, threatened his popularity or derailed his parade. He is bigger now, more important, more prominent, than ever.
It’s a bummer that Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch in this WBC. Good thing he can hit. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Getty Images)
(Toru Hanai via Getty Images)
That brings us to the present, with Ohtani readying himself for another World Baseball Classic, albeit one in which he will not pitch. Japan opens pool play Friday at 5 a.m. ET against Chinese Taipei.
Concerns about Ohtani’s workload from 2025 and doubts about his ability to receive insurance as a pitcher will keep Ohtani DHing only this time around. That’s unfortunate for Japan’s chances, but has done little to spoil the fun. He and Team Japan are now home, playing scrimmages against NPB teams in front of sold-out crowds. Predictably, Ohtani has received a hero’s welcome of epic proportions.
Whenever he emerges in public — boarding buses, moving through train stations or into restaurants — he is bombarded by throngs of onlookers, rows deep, recording his every move. He is flanked by a phalanx of security guards at all times. It’s Taylor Swift with better bat-to-ball skills.
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Last Friday, Ohtani took batting practice at the Vantelin Dome in Nagoya before a Team Japan scrimmage against NPB’s Chunichi Dragons. That’s a rare occurrence for the reclusive slugger, who typically gets his swings in out of sight, in some subterranean batting cage. For whatever reason, he opted to buck that trend, leading to an awe-inspiring display in front of a sold-out, transfixed crowd.
Each thwack of wood meeting rawhide elicited a guttural, involuntary “ooh” from the stands. His walk-up song — “Feelin’ Good” by Michael Bublé — rumbled in the background. Players from both teams dropped whatever they were doing to watch the show. Multiple members of Chunichi’s support staff whipped out their cell phones to record the action. There was ample gawking. Dragon players sat crosslegged just beyond the dugout, like eager school children, to take in what they understood was a golden opportunity.
The scene was indicative of what Ohtani has become. He is more than a baseball player, but he is that too. The man is, above all, a source of raw wonder for millions of his countrymen. That dynamic has given this particular return to Nippon the energy of a victory lap.
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Ohtani, his teammates and Japanese ballfans would very much like to win another WBC, yes. But nothing that happens between now and Opening Day will alter Ohtani’s legacy, already secure on multiple fronts. Ohtani’s dominance is not yet in decline, far from it, but he has already checked nearly every box, both personal and team-oriented, that a ballplayer can check.
What’s left, then, is celebration. Acknowledgement. Appreciation. If the last WBC was Ohtani’s proving ground, this one is his showcase. How lucky are we all to witness it?
