At Dodgers Home Opener, Loyal Fans Give Ohtani Benefit Of The Doubt

For the first home game of the season, Julian Vettorazzi showed up at Dodger Stadium as he has for most of his 29 years, this time with 9-year-old son Xander in tow.

Xander Vettorazzi came with his father Julian eager to see Shohei Ohtani's first at-bat at home.

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Julian Vettorazzi

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They were excited to see Shohei Ohtani’s first-at bat at home and giddy over their team routing the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1. But then there was the other issue that Vettorazzi was trying not to dwell on: a gambling scandal surrounding the world’s biggest ball player.

Major League Baseball says it’ll launch an investigation after the two-way star accused his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara of stealing $4.5 million from him to pay off gambling debts.

Vettorazzi, a contractor from Pasadena, said he hopes the matter can be settled soon for Ohtani — and professional sports.

“He’s a player that everybody looks up to, not just only Dodger fans, but everyone around the world. He’s got something serious going on so we hope the best for him,” Vettorazzi said.

The bets were allegedly placed by Ohtani’s interpreter with an Orange County bookmaker, who is under federal investigation.

More than a dozen fans interviewed said they believed Ohtani — who was signed to a record 10-year, $700 million contract — but some also had probing questions like Mark Baumohl, a certified public accountant.

He questioned how Mizuhara could have been able to make undetected transfers from Ohtani’s account to the bookmaker.

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani walks to the batter's box during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals on March 28, 2024, in Los Angeles.

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Jae C. Hong/AP

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AP

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“Like how do wire transfers get made without verbal approval, because that's how it works with big dollars and Ippei must have had authorization to do so,” Baumohl said. “Or Ohtani knows about it. So, yikes.”

But Baumohl and his co-workers at the game were giving the Japanese baseball icon the benefit of the doubt after he forcefully denied at a news conference Monday that he was never involved in sports betting, which is illegal in California.

“It’d be terrible,” said Ken Coelho, a business manager in L.A., thinking about the prospect.

And not just for the Dodgers, he added.

Ken Coelho (far left) and his colleagues say they believe Ohtani's account. But Mark Baumohl (far right) adds he has questions as to how the theft could have happened.

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Ken Coelho

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“It’d be massive for Major League Baseball, it’d be massive for professional sports, it’d be massive for the country of Japan,” Coehlo said.

Jimmy Apisakkul, a life-long fan who works as an anesthesiologist in Downey, would rather just see the scandal go away.

"It's overblown," Apisakkul said. "I think a large part of that is because there's a lot of animosity towards the Dodgers since we've really positioned ourselves really strongly."

Jimmy Apisakkul, on the left pictured with colleague Nicholas Jung, said the Ohtani scandal is "overblown."

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Jimmy Apisakkul

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He joined the rest of the crowd, roaring when Ohtani got two hits in his home debut.