Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami.
“We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.
Photo: AP
“We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added.
The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news shows and social media.
Newspapers rushed out special editions in Tokyo and elsewhere, including in Ohtani’s hometown in Iwate Prefecture.
Photo: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images / USA Today
At a speciality Iwate produce shop in Tokyo’s Ginza district, photo albums of the player and printed posters saying “Congratulations Ohtani!” were on display.
“He is amazing. Just amazing. I’m in awe,” shopkeeper Keisuke Takahashi said, adding that many customers had come to the shop, especially yesterday.
Outside on the city streets, consultant Tamio Watabiki, 76, said Ohtani was “like a hero for Japan.”
“With all the gloomy news these days, his performance is the only thing that brightens my day and cheers everyone up. I’m looking forward to what he does every day,” he said.
The 30-year-old Ohtani capped a monster performance by adding another home run in the ninth inning, finishing the game with 51 homers and 51 steals so far this season.
In Tokyo, 23-year-old Yume Hareyama, herself from Iwate, called Ohtani the region’s “source of pride.”
“There used to be nothing noteworthy about Iwate except perhaps its large expanse of land… but he has made our region famous and helped revitalize it,” she said.
Social media users were similarly awe-struck. “He is too incredible… truly superhuman,” one wrote on X.
Nicknamed “Sho-Time,” Ohtani was a high-school baseball prodigy who signed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2013 and spent five seasons there before joining the Los Angeles Angels.
There he won two MLB Most Valuable Player awards in six seasons, but left last year for free agency.
Following weeks of frenzied speculation, he joined the Dodgers in December.
His 10-year, US$700-million deal was the richest contract in the history of North American sport.
The Dodgers are headed to the postseason next season, which would be another first for Ohtani.
He never made it there with the Angels, who never had a winning record during his tenure in Anaheim.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS