The Nightmare Start to Shohei Ohtani s Dodgers Career – WSJ

This was supposed to be a triumphant week for Shohei Ohtani, the best player and biggest star in Major League Baseball.

Fresh off signing a $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that would make him one of the highest paid athletes in the history of sports, the two-way sensation from Japan made his regular-season debut in a global showcase event in South Korea. Not only was it baseball s first opportunity to leverage his massive global following since his move from the Angels, it was also Ohtani s first chance to shine in a Dodger uniform. He promptly delivered with two hits and an RBI to lift his new team over the San Diego Padres. 

Then Ohtani s first season in Dodger blue turned into a fiasco.

Hours after Wednesday s game, reports emerged that Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani s longtime translator and business associate, had been fired by the Dodgers over his association with an illegal bookmaker who is currently under federal investigation. A bank account belonging to Ohtani was allegedly used to pay off debts of at least $4.5 million, according to ESPN and the Los Angeles Times.

Attorneys for Ohtani said that he had been the victim of a massive theft and that they would be contacting law enforcement. The Dodgers said in a statement that Mizuhara had been fired but didn t disclose further details. An attorney for the bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer, didn t respond to a request for comment.

But what first appeared to be an internal matter that the Dodgers were in control of soon spiraled into something even more bizarre.

via www.wsj.com

We saw Ohtani play in a spring training game against the White Sox. I rooted for the Sox as the Dodgers, while a fine baseball team, are still a portal of demonic evil into our universe. Presumably we saw his translator as well. Ohtani was graceful and looked happy. Why shouldn’t he? Overall, it was fun, though it got hot and we left after the 6th inning.