This week wasn’t about the defending World Series champions visiting Japan, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s transformation, or even Roki Sasaki’s major league debut.
The entire week was a buildup to this. Whether the ball struck by Shohei Ohtani would have cleared the right-field wall at the Tokyo Dome if some fans hadn’t reached over the railing is immaterial. In baseball, results are marked in absolute terms, and the official record will forever show that Ohtani homered in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ season-opening, two-game series finale against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Which is how it had to be.
This was the week when Ohtani’s adopted country of the United States became aware of the degree to which he was admired in his homeland. And this was the week in which Ohtani homered in the Dodgers’ second win in as many nights over the Cubs. Ohtani’s penchant for delivering on command is something that has been discussed ad nauseam — I wrote about it again after Ohtani homered in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants four days earlier.
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