TOKYO — Your entire week was a buildup to this.
Whether or not the ball struck by Shohei Ohtani would have cleared the right-field wall on the Tokyo Dome if some followers hadn’t reached over the railing is immaterial. In baseball, outcomes are marked in absolute phrases, and the official file will ceaselessly present that Ohtani homered within the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ season-opening, two-game collection finale towards the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday evening.
Which is the way it needed to be.
As a result of this week wasn’t concerning the defending World Sequence champions visiting Japan, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s transformation, and even Roki Sasaki’s main league debut.
This week was the Week of Ohtani.
This was the week when Ohtani introduced his group to Japan. This was the week when Ohtani’s adopted nation of the USA grew to become conscious of the diploma to which he was admired in his homeland. And this was the week during which Ohtani homered within the Dodgers’ second win in as many nights over the Cubs.
Ohtani’s penchant for delivering on command is one thing that has been mentioned advert nauseam — I wrote about it once more after Ohtani homered in an exhibition sport towards the Yomiuri Giants 4 days earlier.
However his reliability is what made this complete week doable.
Sponsors paid a premium to have Ohtani pitch their merchandise on the endless stream of commercials that had been proven within the Tokyo Dome as a result of they know he’ll produce. Different firms made related wagers on Ohtani, their Ohtani-themed ads discovered in all places round this metropolis.
Followers paid outrageous costs for tickets to observe these video games as a result of they knew there was probability Ohtani may produce a second like this for them.
And he did.
