Los Angeles has become the hub for professional sports in recent years and the city welcomed another superstar as Shohei Ohtani chose to sign a record $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani spent the previous six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, but the Dodgers profile as the city’s most popular baseball team which means the two-way superstar will experience a new level of fame. Ohtani is widely regarded as the best baseball player in the game and him joining the Dodgers is considered a big deal for the MLB and worldwide.
The Los Angeles Lakers have their own Japanese player on their roster in Rui Hachimura, who is excited to see Ohtani with the Dodgers. Hachimura explained the impact of Ohtani signing with the Dodgers, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“It’s really big. In Japan, of course, but he’s a worldwide player. He’s the best player in the world right now. And baseball is the biggest sport in Japan so everybody is talking about it right now. Especially because L.A. has a really big Japanese community.”
Hachimura and Ohtani have spoken to each other in the past and the former said he believes the latter will feel more at home in L.A.:
“Yeah, I think he wanted to do that for a long time. Even for me too, like I said, L.A. has a big Japanese community and Asian community so it’s good for us. We feel more at home and it’s close to Japan too, so I think it’s good for him and it’s gonna be great.”
The baseball world was on pins and needles as Ohtani mulled offers from several teams in free agency, but he ultimately decided to sign with the Dodgers because of their dedication to winning and sustained success the past decade. Hachimura knows far too well what it’s like to win in a Lakers jersey versus anywhere else, and Ohtani is about to experience the same thing with the Dodgers.
Both the Lakers and Dodgers pride themselves on being championship organizations, so Japan must be excited to see two of their own chasing after titles in the coming year.
Kobe Bryant video was highlight of Shohei Ohtani pitch
The Lakers and Dodgers both place a premium on winning championships, and it was no surprise to hear that Ohtani’s highlight of his free agency meeting was a video of Kobe Bryant telling him to sign with the franchise back in 2017.
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