When the name of Shohei Ohtani was announced Thursday for his first official at-bat as a member of the Dodgers in the city of Los Angeles, the vast majority of fans in the stadium stood up as a welcome, perhaps also as a show of support and rather as if they were witnessing a historic moment.
On the fourth pitch received, Shohei Ohtani hit a double to the right field corner and although he was later thrown out after making a baserunning error, the Dodgers fans rewarded him with applause while the Japanese went to the dugout. your new team.
The most expensive and famous player in the world reached base on two other occasions and shined along with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman – who hit a home run – to lead the Dodgers to a comfortable 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2024 opener at Dodger Stadium.
“I was the only one of the three who didn’t hit a home run, but overall I think I had a good game,” Ohtani said good-naturedly through his new interpreter after the game in the Dodgers locker room.
Of course, all that had surrounded Shohei Ohtani for a week was questions and speculation about the illegal sports betting scandal of his former performer, Ippei Mizuhara. But Ohtani, who claims he had nothing to do with those bets, really left no doubt in his first game in LA how much he’s going to help the Dodgers.
The designated hitter went 2-for-3 in the batter’s box in front of his new fans, with 1 walk and 1 run scored. Ohtani’s presence as second in the batting order turns manager Dave Roberts’ first batch of hitters into a formidable and frankly incomparable core..
The Dodgers’ “Big Three” made up of three players who have been MVPs in the Big League tore the Cardinals to pieces in the first game of the series by combining for 5 hits, 4 free walks, 6 runs scored and 4 produced.
The Dodgers blue carpet and “Breaking Bad” present
The opening party at Dodger Stadium began with a ceremony somewhat different from the previous ones, but with the usual joy and optimism of the fans like every afternoon in March or April when there is an “Opening Day.”
All the Dodger players appeared behind the center field fence to walk – in true Hollywood style – a long carpet while the wives, children and other relatives of the players applauded on the sides. But of course, this is “Blue Heaven on Earth” and the carpet was not red, but blue.
“I think the walk was a little long, but I liked the ceremony,” a joking Ohtani commented on the blue carpet at his first “Opening Day” in Chavez Ravine.
Ohtani was applauded there for the first time that day, in an absolute and logical sign that Dodgers fans will support him with everything despite the speculation that there is on the subject of betting, an issue that looks like it could take weeks or even months to clarify, although Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated this day that he hopes – with reservations – that the investigation will be “short.”
By the way, the introduction of the players was done this time by actor Bryan Cranston, an Angeleno idol who is a big fan of the Dodgers and other local teams like the Rams. Any possible involvement between Ohtani and the popular series “Breaking Bad” was left to the fans’ complete interpretation.
Of course, the ovations for Mookie Betts and Freedie Freeman, the other two members of the “Big Three”, were equally great, and not to mention that of Clayton Kershaw, always one of the darlings. The left-handed pitcher is on the injured list.
The most popular jerseys and a new immortal in the house
In the stands, where 52,667 spectators arrived, Ohtani’s jersey with No. 17 was perhaps the most popular, with good competition from Mookie Betts’ 50 jersey and not missing Fernando Valenzuela’s 34., Kershaw’s 22nd and until Kobe Bryant’s 24th. The odd jacket with the 7th of July Urías was also seen around.
The Dodgers are baseball royalty and can always count on a revered legend of the sport for the first pitch of their inaugural game. The guest was Adrián Beltré, the tremendous Dominican player recently elected to Cooperstown and who played the first part of his career in the Dodgers jersey. Kershaw was the catcher for Beltré.
Josh Groban sang the United States national anthem and then a huge KC-135 and three F15s flew over Dodger Stadium. As a curious fact, the four military ships could not be seen in the sky due to a set of clouds that at that time obstructed visibility.
Tyler Glasnow’s first win as a Dodger
Ohtani wasn’t the only new Dodgers figure to stand out Thursday. Tyler Glasnow, the Santa Clarita right-hander who has returned home as a million-dollar addition, looked excellent on the mound as a starter.
The 6-foot-8 giant with the long hair threw well and threw fast, helping the game last just 2 hours and 23 minutes. In 6 innings they hit only 2 hits and scored 1 run due to a home run by Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth inning. He struck out 5 and walked 1 to earn his first win with the Dodgers.
But by the time Glasnow made that mistake against Goldschmidt, his offense had already given him 5 runs of support, a luxury he often did not have in Tampa Bay, his previous club.
Explosion of the Dodgers’ “Big Three”
A Freeman single made it 1-0 in the first inning, driving in Betts, who had walked and reached third on Ohtani’s double. He did not see the third base coach and was out at third, where Betts was stationed, who by the way debuted as a starting shortstop in front of his followers (he made a throwing error).
Will Smith, the catcher and new super millionaire of Los Angeles, singled and Max Muncy followed with a sacrifice fly to boost Freeman with the 2-0 against the starter and defeated Miles Mikolas.
In the third inning, Betts greeted Mikolas with a home run to the left to make it 3-0. Ohtani walked and Freeman blew the wall in center to make it 5-0. in an explosion of the “Big Three” that will surely be repeated very often.
RBI hits by James Outman in the sixth and Max Muncy in the seventh completed the Los Angeles attack, while left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, another former Tampa Bay Ray, pitched 3 innings to earn the save and round off the happy afternoon at Dodger Stadium, where there were no nothing historic, but the beginning of an era for the local fans.
“Very grateful now as part of the Dodgers,” Ohtani said of his first time as a house star.
The Japanese has a serious matter on his plate that no one will soon forget. But back on the diamond, he was the same Ohtani as always. On this afternoon that was the only thing that mattered at Dodger Stadium.
Keep reading:
– Podcast: Shohei Ohtani defends himself by breaking the silence, but they better not be lies
– Ohtani scandal has potential to cause problems for Dodgers all season
– The 10 biggest free agent signings before the first full day of MLB