Shohei Ohtani will put years of disappointment behind him when he makes his long-awaited first appearance in a World Series in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ blockbuster showdown with the New York Yankees on Friday.
The 30-year-old Japanese superstar was given a taste of the circus-like atmosphere surrounding this year’s baseball showpiece on Thursday as he appeared before a huge scrum of media.
Ohtani looked on calmly as hordes of camera crews, photographers and journalists jostled for position at a media day staged in bright sunshine at Dodger Stadium.
“I’m very excited,” Ohtani said through a translator. “It just feels like it finally has arrived.”
Ohtani joined the Dodgers last December after inking a mammoth $700 million 10-year contract — the richest deal in the history of North American professional sport — after failing to reach the postseason once in six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I have been watching the World Series every year, watching it with a sense of disappointment because I couldn’t play in one,” Ohtani said.
“But this year I’m able to participate in one, and I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Ohtani’s World Series debut comes in a heavyweight collision between two historical rivals, who are facing off in the Fall Classic for the 12th time in total, and for the first time in 43 years.
The magnitude of the occasion has not been lost on Ohtani, who came into the postseason after a dazzling first year with the Dodgers that saw him become the first player to amass 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
– ‘It’s going to be special’ –
“I’m aware that it’s going to be special,” Ohtani said.
“I’ve never participated in one, so I’m sure I’m going to feel how special it is.”
Asked if he was surprised at how quickly and successfully he had slotted into the Dodgers set-up this season, Ohtani said he had simply approached his job day-to-day.
“I never really focused on this being my first year,” Ohtani told AFP. “I just really focused on playing each and every single game, and doing the best that I can, and imagining that I would be standing on this stage.”
Ohtani added that his move to the Dodgers had been smoothed by the support of franchise superstars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
“Aside from them being exceptional players, just being able to see each of them work, prepare every single day and how they go about the clubhouse has been something that really stood out to me,” Ohtani said. “It really helped me in the process.”
Responding to remarks from Yankees slugger Aaron Judge describing him as the best player in baseball, Ohtani replied: “I’m honored that that’s how he thinks of me…he’s one of the top players that represents the league.”
Ohtani meanwhile is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Japanese baseball legend Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui, who won a World Series playing for the Yankees in 2009.
“I never really had the chance to meet him in person, but as a player that I’ve seen on TV, I’ve always looked up and admired what he did,” Ohtani said. “That’s the kind of impression he left me as a child, and I’m sure the impression that he left many Japanese children.”
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