Everyone who likes baseball has been paying attention to Shohei Ohtani’s greatness since his debut in MLB in 2018. That season, he earned the Rookie of the Year award and demonstrated to everyone what he was capable of, but it is incredible to me how he can make it so far without knowing how to slide correctly.
During the second game of the last World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees, Shohei tried to steal second base, but when he got into it, he injured his shoulder. Since the beginning of Spring Training, the Dodgers have shared videos of the Japanese practicing his slide and the latest one impressed everyone with an epic ending pose.
Ohtani had surgery in his non-throwing shoulder after the first medical reports from the Dodgers’ doctors were described as a subluxation or a partial dislocation. This was weeks after the triumph of the Los Angeles team, the procedure was performed by the distinguished Dr. Neal ElAttrache after a diagnosis of a labrum tear.
The 2025 MLB season will start with the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and the Cubs on March 18 & 19. This is just proof of Shohei’s impact on the league, on the team, on the draft, and on everything! He won’t be ready to pitch for those days, but their friends and compatriots; Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki will take the mound.
The Tokyo Series was first played on the iconic 2000 year between the Mets and the Cubs, they played a two-game series where they split wins. Four years later the Yankees and the Devil Rays (actually Rays) starred in the Tokyo Series, where they also split games. In 2008, the Athletics and the Red Sox were the third Japanese series in history; also a split of W’s.
In 2012, the Athletics repeated against the Mariners in another series with a win per team. The MLB in Japan was just a memory until 2019, one year after Shoehi arrived in the league. The return of the Tokyo Series involucrated the same 2012 franchises; the Mariners of Ichiro Suzuki against the Athletics. This meant the last appearance of the great Suzuki, a World Series champion and a player who played for 19 seasons. He retired afterwards this series.
Both teams earned a win in Tokyo (once again) and the second game was over after 12 innings, the first time a series in Japan was extended. The history continues this 2025 season, maybe not with Shohei being the star at the mound but with a huge Japanese culture around; not only the pitchers from the Dodgers but Shota Imanaga from the Cubs is reported to throw in the first game of the series.
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