LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s highly anticipated Dodger Stadium debut was so loud he didn’t want it to stop. Or at least, he couldn’t stop.
The sellout crowd greeted his introduction with cheers, a chorus that followed Ohtani into the batter’s box for his first official home at-bat with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The ovation grew louder as he dumped a base hit into right field, then rose again when Ohtani ducked his head down and motored around second base, with one issue: Third-base coach Dino Ebel had thrown up a stop sign and Mookie Betts was standing right in front of him, leaving Ohtani a sitting duck to be tagged out. Even then the crowd cheered as Ohtani retreated to the dugout, and rocked once again one hitter later when Betts scored anyway.
New times, for everyone.
“It’s a situation that I hadn’t encountered during spring training,” Ohtani said of the flub through new interpreter Will Ireton after a spring that had a little bit of everything else.
The Dodgers’ 7-1 blowout win over St. Louis on Thursday provided a reminder of some turbulence. This had the semblance of something normal and expected. The Dodgers had actual baseball to break down after a winter filled with hypotheticals.
The reception for Shohei Ohtani. pic.twitter.com/GAIHuu6rZz
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 28, 2024
Their Gold Glove-winning right fielder is now their shortstop. Their rotation has been overhauled. Their season technically began a week ago on another continent and was shrouded by a potential scandal involving Ohtani, their new, high-priced star. Their billion-dollar spending binge in December left the subsequent months feeling like a prolonged sugar rush, then made even an abbreviated spring feel like a slog.
“Glad it’s over? Absolutely,” manager Dave Roberts said. This spring, he said, “takes the cake” in making weeks feel like months of waiting for a season unlike any other since this franchise moved to Los Angeles.
So the coronation kicked off Thursday with a blue carpet treatment, with players emerging from behind digital panels in center field as they were introduced. They’re the luxury franchise now, with a Guggenheim “G” affixed to their sleeves and a desire to lean into their star power. And, boy, was it Hollywood, with the club enlisting Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston to announce their star-studded lineup. Even normal felt different.
“I don’t know if running onto the field on a blue carpet from center field is normal,” Freddie Freeman said.
No one, of course, was bigger than Ohtani, the Dodgers’ newest, biggest, most expensive and now most-scrutinized face.
“The walk was a little too long,” he’d quip to reporters after the luxe introduction he and his teammates received.
It was Ohtani’s arrival that stirred record ticket prices, a flood of crisp, white No. 17 jerseys and a new era for ownership. From the moment the ink was dry on his 10-year, $700 million deal, his debut at Dodger Stadium was always going to be a spectacle.
And in its opening show at their home ballpark, the Dodgers demonstrated why they’ve been the talk of the sport.
Their MVP trio reached base eight times in 10 tries as Betts and Freeman each hit home runs. St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas, who accused the Doders of playing “checkbook baseball” this spring, bounced after 4 1/3 innings with five runs on his ledger. Tyler Glasnow allowed just two hits and one run over six innings in his Dodger Stadium home debut. It was his second consecutive strong start to open his tenure with his new club.
It almost looked as easy as Los Angeles envisioned.
“I think there’s been a lot of expectations on the outside,” Betts said, “but internally nobody expects anything more than what Freddie, Mookie, Shohei and everybody down the lineup can do.”
This was what the Dodgers have been expecting. For a roster this talented and highly paid, it marked a return to reality after a dramatic past week.
Ohtani’s inclusion with former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara as part of an active Major League Baseball investigation into payments made from Ohtani’s account to alleged illegal bookie Mathew Bowyer remains a story that won’t go away. A crowd of nearly 75 reporters swarmed him in the middle of the home clubhouse after Thursday’s win, making Ohtani the center of a tighter focus than even he is used to.
But those around the club have noted the Japanese superstar’s ability to deal with the microscope that has only become more affixed to his every move.
“He’s handled it,” Roberts said, “with flying colors.”
Base-running blunder aside, Ohtani showed no indication that anything was amiss in Thursday’s unveiling. He finished with a pair of hits and a walk to pair with the ovations that accompanied his every plate appearance.
That attention isn’t going anywhere. The mass of media within the home clubhouse was notable even compared to postseason media crushes of years past, bewildering a group otherwise accustomed to extra cameras.
New times, for everyone.
(Photo of Shohei Ohtani: Keith Birmingham / Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
