Baseball’s wounded unicorn emerged from the Dodgers clubhouse and waded into a four-deep scrum of media itching to play soft toss with the planet’s most expensive and elusive designated hitter.
Two weeks after denying he bet on baseball and seemingly wondering what all the fuss was about, Shohei Ohtani broke his public silence Monday three hours before roasting Twins pitching with two doubles and a home run to open a three-game visit to Target Field.
Three minutes of translated banalities about swing adjustments, impressions of Wrigley Field, relentless elbow injuries and Ohtani’s throwing program, which has progressed to playing catch seven months after Tommy John surgery.
Nothing, of course, about gambling debts, criminal investigations or how the hell Ohtani’s former interpreter allegedly stole $4.5 million of his money to pay off an illegal bookie.
The Dodgers’ $700 million, bubble-wrapped icon and the face of modern baseball is unlikely to talk again in Minnesota despite another sterling performance at the plate. Ohtani homered for the third time in five games, with 11 of his 19 hits this season going for extra bases.
Afterward, no one dared approach Ohtani at his locker to ask him what he saw when he smoked a 110-mph double off Bailey Ober in the first inning. Or how he muscled a towering drive off reliever Jay Jackson into an opposite-field home run to seal Los Angeles’ 4-2 victory.
Baseball questions likely get you frog-walked out of the ballpark. Queries about gambling debts, shifting narratives and federal investigations would probably leave you drugged in a hotel bathtub with a kidney missing.
Said interpreter Ippei Mizuhara last month told ESPN during an interview that he was hemorrhaging cash and Ohtani paid off the debts as a favor to a friend and employee. That explanation landed like an anvil on baseball on the eve of the 2024 season.
Mizuhara immediately recanted and Ohtani quickly went from benevolent buddy to defrauded victim, shoving his ex-employee under every wheel of the nearest bus as Major League Baseball and the U.S. government dig deeper.
Ohtani, the Dodgers, MLB and its anxious fans wait with bated breath for the FBI and IRS to grind their unchecked gears of justice.
Ohtani plays on.
“I’m just really grateful and thankful that the team and the personnel have supported me throughout this process,” he said before the game as translated by his new interpreter. “Regardless of whatever happens off the field, my ability to continue to play baseball hasn’t changed. It’s my job to make sure that I play to the best of my abilities.”
Ohtani’s talent and place in baseball’s hierarchy is unrivaled, but the Japanese sensation remains an enigma despite playing for both L.A. franchises in the center of the entertainment world.
Ohtani isn’t just a superstar slugger and superior starter, he’s bigger than the game, albeit the least accessible. A phenomenon who conjures flickering black-and-white silent films of Babe Ruth crushing baseballs and slicing through opposing lineups a century ago as the sport’s original and last two-way star.
Any fan, rabid or casual, should be rooting for a full recovery so Ohtani can return to the mound and continue his two-pronged assault on the record book. But the gambling specter has only served to drive Ohtani further underground, giving him and the Dodgers political cover to avoid scrutiny – even of his daily exploits on the field.
Dodger-blue clad fans who clearly outnumbered Twins faithful among the 15,000-plus who came out on this raw evening drowned out a smattering of boos with cheers when Ohtani came to the plate in the first inning.
He smoked a 2-2 fastball from Bailey Ober over Byron Buxton’s head, one-hopping the center field fence for a stand-up double that dropped jaws throughout the ballpark.
“It’s pretty amazing to see how hard he swings and how hard he hits the ball,” said L.A. winning starter, James Paxton. “Just glad I have him on my side.”
After flying out in the third, Ohtani led off the sixth against Twins lefty Steven Okert, called upon by manager Rocco Baldelli to relieve starter Bailey Ober, who had already struck out seven over just 68 pitches.
Ohtani promptly poked another double into the left field corner and scored on Will Smith’s bloop single to tie the game 2-2.
Two innings later, Jackson left a fastball over the heart of the plate and Ohtani launched it into the first row of the left-field bleachers.
Through 13 games, Ohtani is hitting .345 with an eye-popping OPS of 1.056. Moreover, he has hit safely in nine of 10 at Target Field, including six multi-hit games.
“When he’s in control and getting pitches in his nitro zone,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, “there’s not a better hitter.”
Meanwhile, the Twins have two more games to try to neutralize the unicorn and end a three-game home losing streak that is quickly souring the feel-good vibes of October.
They only struck out seven times after fanning 29 times in two losses to Cleveland over the weekend. But their offense is stalled without ignitor Royce Lewis in the middle of the lineup and no one has picked up the slack yet.
It won’t get any easier this week. The Dodgers have won six straight at Target Field since 2011 and 16 of 22 interleague games between the teams.
Meanwhile, Ohtani’s gonna Ohtani.
Pound that pill and leave everyone else to wonder what all the fuss is about.
