NEW YORK — When Shohei Ohtani was a sophomore in highschool, his baseball coach at Hanamake Higashi Excessive launched him to a way of self enchancment known as the Harada Methodology.
Named for Takashi Harada, a former bodily schooling instructor in Japan, the tactic discovered its approach to Hanamake Higashi via Hiroshi Sasaki, the college’s meticulous and commemorated baseball coach. It included 5 levels — targets, function, evaluation, plan and motion — and the best way Sasaki noticed it, it provided his gamers a blueprint for his or her futures.
In accordance with the tactic, the gamers at Hanamake Higashi needed to write down their targets and an inventory of methods to realize them. The ensuing doc was a 9-by-9 grid that Harada calls a 64 chart, and when Ohtani sat right down to fill his out, he wrote of issues philosophical and sensible. He wished to have a “tenacity for victory” and “a cool head and scorching ardour.” He wished to learn extra books, choose up after himself, achieve weight and “do away with uneasy emotions.”
Ohtani wrote of eager to throw a baseball 99 mph — or 160 kph, because it’s measured in Japan — and change into a high prospect. However one other field appeared to encapsulate his mission:
“Have clear targets and functions.”
Ohtani would ultimately depart Hanamake Higashi and its considerably rural confines in Iwate Prefecture, however he by no means stopped making targets. He wished to play in Nippon Skilled Baseball as a pitcher and a hitter. So he did.
He wished to do the identical within the main leagues, upending a century of standard baseball knowledge. So he did.
He gained two Most Worthwhile Participant awards for the Los Angeles Angels as maybe essentially the most singular expertise in baseball historical past — starring as a pitcher and a hitter. He signed a $700 million contract with the Dodgers and deferred $680 million of it for 10 years. And when a second Tommy John surgical procedure left him unable to pitch this season, his first season in Los Angeles, he set a objective to be the primary participant in historical past to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases. He did that, too.
Shohei Ohtani tries out the brand new {hardware}! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/QqCvz15F4L
— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2024
The most recent objective he achieved, because it occurs, got here late Wednesday night time, within the moments after the Los Angeles Dodgers gained the World Collection over the New York Yankees with a heart-stopping 7-6 victory in Recreation 5. Within the midst of a euphoric celebration, with Kendrick Lamar blasting and beer pooling into puddles on the ground of the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium, Ohtani bumped into Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations.
When the Dodgers had recruited Ohtani to Los Angeles final winter, staff chairman Mark Walter had talked about the membership’s checkered October previous. The Dodgers had been the category of the game for a decade however had only one World Collection championship in 2020 to point out for it. Walter labeled it “a failure.”
On Wednesday, as one championship grew to become two, Ohtani had a message for Friedman.
“All proper,” he stated, “9 extra, 9 extra.”
The “9,” on this case, was World Collection championships, which corresponded with the 9 seasons that Ohtani has remaining on his Dodgers contract.
“In his first yr, he gained a championship,” Friedman stated. “He’s like, ‘That is simple. We’re simply gonna do it once more 9 extra instances.’”
One can assume, after all, that Ohtani was joking. Possibly it was the champagne speaking. However contemplating every thing else he’s achieved in his seven seasons within the main leagues, perhaps it was only one extra objective to chase.
“We had been capable of get via the common season, I believe, due to the energy of this staff, this group,” Ohtani stated in a information convention late Wednesday night time. “And the success of the postseason is similar to how we had been capable of pull it off throughout the common season. Once more, the energy of the group. (I’m) extraordinarily honored to be part of this.”
On the sphere, Ohtani’s first World Collection had not gone fairly to plan. He was simply 1-for-8 on the plate earlier than sustaining a partial dislocation of his left shoulder in Recreation 2. He returned for Recreation 3 in New York, carrying tape to maintain his shoulder in place, however he hit simply .105 (2-for-19) with two walks for the sequence. If Ohtani was extra injured than he let on, even Friedman was undecided.
Ohtani struggled on the plate after his harm in Recreation 2 of the World Collection. (Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Pictures)
“He was taking part in with one arm within the postseason,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “So most guys would most likely faucet out, however he was going to not be denied at taking part in and posting and being within the lineup.”
It did little to mute Ohtani’s pleasure contained in the clubhouse. At 12:53 a.m., he emerged from the middle of the get together and sprayed Friedman within the face with champagne. Three minutes later, he obtained Walker Buehler, stunning the beginning pitcher who had come on in aid and closed out Recreation 5. As Ohtani moved in regards to the room, he appeared to tilt the gravity of the celebration, a wave of Japanese reporters following in his wake.
Main League Baseball had granted almost 180 credentials to media members from Japan, one other quantity that helped measure Ohtani’s impression on baseball and the Dodgers. Practically 16 million individuals in Japan tuned in to the Dodgers’ victory in Recreation 2. It’s attainable, after all, that the numbers might solely develop.
When Ohtani possible collects his third MVP award this offseason, he shall be simply the ninth participant in historical past with three MVP awards and a World Collection ring — and simply the third to have debuted inside the final 50 years. The opposite two current examples are Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, and the remainder of the record is dotted with inside circle Corridor of Famers: Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Roy Campanella and Jimmie Foxx.
For those who imagine Friedman, Ohtani has the chance to move all of them.
“I believe there’s a respectable argument that he’s the best participant to ever play the sport,” Friedman stated. “So clearly all this does is assist additional that.”
The case is statistical: In seven seasons, Ohtani has hit 225 profession house runs whereas posting a profession .945 OPS, almost 57 % higher than league common. Over that very same interval, he has a 3.01 ERA throughout 86 begins.
The case can be historic: The World Collection has been performed for greater than a century. No one has ever fairly damaged the game like Ohtani has.
“What Shohei’s completed to our ball membership, the Dodger fan base domestically, globally, I simply don’t assume you may quantify,” Roberts stated.
Because the celebration raged, membership president Stan Kasten didn’t attempt to quantify the increasing fan base abroad. As an alternative he spoke of the enduring Dodgers model.
“We’re Jackie,” he stated. “We’re Sandy. We’re Fernando. And on and on and on.”
Quickly sufficient, he’ll add Shohei to the record.
In a single nook stood Mookie Betts, a three-time World Collection champion, together with twice with the Dodgers. And someplace was Freddie Freeman, the World Collection MVP and two-time champ. However in the course of the room was Ohtani, spraying champagne onto teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At one level, he noticed Kasten. The staff president provided three phrases:
“Good selection, Shohei.”
Ohtani would inform reporters that he felt “honored” to play for a staff just like the Dodgers. The World Collection championship itself, he stated, was a “large honor.” And the yr taking part in alongside Betts and Freeman had made him a greater participant and teammate.
“It actually allowed me to raise my sport as nicely,” Ohtani stated. “Not simply technically, but additionally my professionalism.”
He was, eventually, a World Collection champion. He clutched a bottle of bubbly in his arm. Like his days again at Hanamake Higashi, he had chased a dream and achieved it. Now it was on to the subsequent one.
9 extra?
A reporter requested Roberts in regards to the promise.
“I don’t wish to get to stress but,” Roberts stated. “I’ve handled stress fairly a bit. I’m going to take pleasure in this one. However as soon as we get to spring coaching, that’s actually going to be the objective, sure.”
(Prime picture: Mike Lawrence / MLB Pictures through Getty Pictures)
