Shohei Ohtani Back in Spring Camp Following Japan’s World Baseball Classic Exit

Shohei Ohtani is making his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and is expected to be in the opening weekend series. Ohtani is said to be one of the best baseball players in the world. Some would even say the best in history. When Ohtani is out there, all eyes are on the field.

The Expectation for Ohtani

However, in spring training, executives and managers like to keep the expectations low, or at least to a reasonable level. The opposite seems to be happening with Ohtani. Typically expectations are pushed down, but this time, everyone seems to have their hopes raised.

On another note, most players such as Alek Manoah who undergo Tommy John surgery seem to really struggle to play like they used to. But Ohtani seems to have only progressed and increased in his stamina. Everyone who has talked about this has been saying that he is on another level. If Ohtani wants to win a Cy Young, it is very likely that he will win a Cy Young (though, Ohtani’s main priority seems to be staying in good health this season). 

Japan and the Dodgers

When people heard that he would be playing with Japan instead of the Dodgers on October 21, 2012, they thought he may not be the Ohtani people were thinking he was. One of the main reasons he played with Japan was because he would be allowed to play as a pitcher and a position player, while the Dodgers were not willing to use him as a two-way role.

Everyone knows how good he is with a bat, but they were not entirely sure about how he would do pitching. Ohtani is just unpredictable. We can think he will have one way of doing things, and he will have a completely different way of doing things. It would not be surprising if he won the Cy Young award. There is probably nothing on a baseball field that he cannot do. 

Japan’s Run Comes to an End

It seemed he would stay with Japan until their participation in this tournament ends, but in a shocking turn of events, Japan is out of the World Baseball Classic in the quarterfinals, meaning Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be racing back to the Dodgers camp just 10 days before opening day.

On March 14th in Miami, Venezuela defeated Team Samurai by 8-5 in the quarter finals marking the first time in the tournament’s history that Japan failed to reach the semi-finals. It just goes to show you how many good players there are around the rest of the world. I mean, Japan obviously had some fantastic stars. But now Japan is going home. Nothing is guaranteed.

Even with the Dodgers now having stars on every part of their roster, who knows? And Japan has been one of the most consistent teams the tournament has ever seen, with an inaugural win in 2006, another in 2009, and they captured another title in the last edition, in 2023.

Even in the years when they didn’t win it, they always made deep runs. Even players you probably did not know of, a couple of years later or possibly even that very year, they would make it to the major leagues after being displayed with Team Samurai.

But now we are seeing their vulnerability. Any given day, you can never predict what is coming. Anybody can win. That’s baseball. But we did get to see Ohtani once again delivering a big home run, leading off of the first for Team Samurai. Also, it was a tight game when Yoshinobu Yamamoto was out there. But once Yamamoto left, the bullpen just failed.

Overall, the two Dodgers in the tournament did very well. Ohtani was not just good. He was Ohtani. He was extraordinary. Now with opening day just around the corner, two of the Dodgers’ most important players look mid-season ready. They are coming back healthy, sharp, and ready to go. Especially Ohtani.