LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani bats second because the Dodgers' designated hitter in Sunday evening's Freeway Sequence opener at Dodger Stadium. Earlier than the sport he was on the sector and visited with a few of his previous Angels teammates.
It appeared like another recreation, besides Main League Baseball was investigating every thing surrounding Ohtani and his licensed interpreter Ippei Mizzuhara, together with ties to an alleged unlawful bookmaker, a report of $4.5 million in playing money owed, and Ohtani's lawyer claims a “huge theft” in a narrative that has extra questions than solutions at this level.
None of these solutions got here Sunday, the primary recreation for the Dodgers in Southern California after arriving house from South Korea, the place the staff opened its common season as Ohtani's story.
Ohtani instructed reporters earlier than Sunday's recreation that he would handle the media on Monday, however given the continuing investigations and potential authorized points related to it, it stays in query what precisely Ohtani may say on Monday.
“I believe it's good. It's the suitable factor to do. I'm glad he's going to speak, and discuss to what he is aware of and provides his ideas on the scenario,” mentioned supervisor Dave Roberts on Sunday. “I believe it should give us all slightly extra readability.”
Roberts mentioned Ohtani hasn't addressed the staff, however has had one-on-one conversations with varied gamers. Roberts mentioned he checked in with Ohtani, however principally about baseball.
“All the pieces I've seen, it's type of enterprise as regular, actually.” Roberts added. “So I'm actually trying ahead to him addressing it [the media] tomorrow too.”
The longer Ohtani went with none assertion or media scrum would have meant extra possibilities for his teammates to marvel concerning the scenario. Most of this burden normally falls on Roberts, who because the supervisor is probably the most front-line member of the group, along with his common availability twice a day.
Thus far, Roberts mentioned that hasn't been an impediment for the Dodgers, who sadly have had expertise coping with distractions in recent times. In 2021, Trevor Bauer spent the final half of the season on administrative depart, then acquired the longest suspension within the nine-year historical past of MLB's joint home violence, sexual assault and abuse coverage. the kids Final 12 months, Julio Urías missed the final month of the season on administrative depart beneath that coverage, with the investigation nonetheless ongoing.
“We're actually battle-tested in that regard, and we've proven over time that we will transfer ahead,” Roberts mentioned. “To not be insensitive to completely different conditions, however everybody understands that we now have a job to do. To begin with, enjoying baseball and preparation should be part of it.”
