Dodgers Take On Home Opener In The Shadow Of A Big Shohei Ohtani Distraction

Ever since the Dodgers signed superstar free agent Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700-million contract in December, L.A. fans have been counting down to the start of the season like nervous NASA engineers at Cape Canaveral.

The countdown got down to zero, even to T-plus one game in Seoul, South Korea, and then came this:

“Dodger fans, we have a problem.”

The Dodgers had fired Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and close friend Ippei Mizuhara over his admission that he’d lost millions of dollars in bets with a bookmaker. It followed a statement by lawyers for Ohtani, in response to questions from the L.A. Times, that accused Mizuhara of “massive theft” by siphoning off money from Ohtani to pay his gambling debts. Mizuhara told ESPN that Ohtani had agreed to pay those debts, but later backtracked and said Ohtani did not know about his gambling.

Ohtani himself, in a brief announcement Monday at Dodger Stadium, said Mizuhara didn’t tell him about his gambling debts until the story broke in South Korea. Ohtani insisted he has “never bet on anything” or asked someone to make bets for him.

Major League Baseball, which started an investigation, has strict rules about gambling that date back more than a century to the infamous Black Sox scandal and lifetime bans given to eight Chicago White Sox for throwing the 1919 World Series.
 
No one with any credibility has said Ohtani gambled on baseball, but he could face penalties if he did pay gambling debts to an illegal bookmaker. The baseball commissioner has wide latitude to decide what those penalties might be.

If you’re a Dodger fan, you know all this.

What you don’t know, and no one does, is how someone, even a close friend like Mizuhara apparently was, could get into Ohtani’s accounts and move millions of dollars out without an eagle-eyed business manager or bank official noticing.

Or how much the Dodgers or any ball club knew about Mizuhara’s background. There are now questions about whether he attended UC Riverside or worked briefly as an interpreter for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, as his bio in the Angels media guide said.

And from a baseball standpoint, the big question is whether Ohtani can set aside this giant distraction and focus on playing ball, which is what the Dodgers and their fans are hoping for.

But the Dodgers are much more than just Shohei Ohtani. A collection of other players who’ve joined — or rejoined — the team could be the key to avoiding a third straight early playoff exit.

Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez was an All-Star slugger in 2021 for the Toronto Blue Jays. Last year, he joined the Seattle Mariners — and his production slipped. But Seattle’s T-Mobile Park is notorious for suppressing right-handed power hitters like Hernandez. Dodger Stadium should be friendlier.

Rejoining the Dodgers after missing last season with a knee injury is Gavin Lux. He was a tremendous hitter in the minors and hit well in his first full season as a starter in 2022. This was supposed to be the year Lux succeeded former Dodger All-Stars Corey Seager and Trea Turner at shortstop. But that lasted less than a week into spring training with the return of his nagging problem with throwing from short.

Lux is now back at second base, where he played in 2022. Mookie Betts, who already planned to move from right field to second base to give his legs a rest, has shifted to short. It’s a risky move, but Mookie is a remarkable ballplayer and looked comfortable for 16 games at shortstop last season.

The Dodgers will depend heavily on three new starting pitchers while they wait for Clayton Kershaw to return from shoulder surgery, and Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin all to recover from Tommy John surgery.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto leads the trio of newcomers. He was named the best starting pitcher in Nippon Pro Baseball in 2021, 2022 and 2023. When Yamamoto decided to leave the Orix Buffaloes to join MLB, he was immediately the most coveted free agent behind only Shohei Ohtani.

They were Team Japan teammates in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which they won. Once Ohtani joined the Dodgers, he helped convince Yamamoto to sign with L.A. Now they’re aiming to win the World Series.

The other new Dodgers — Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton — face the same challenge: staying healthy.

Righthander Glasnow would have led the American League in strikeouts-per-9-innings last season with Tampa Bay, but injuries meant he didn’t pitch enough to qualify for that honor. He also missed nearly all of 2022 after Tommy John surgery.

Lefty James Paxton did miss all the 2022 season with a muscle tear. He had also missed 2021 after Tommy John surgery. Last year with the Boston Red Sox, Paxton pitched nearly as well as he did in Seattle from 2017 to 2019, although he faded in his last three starts.

If Glasnow and Paxton are healthy and sturdy enough to pitch all season, they’ll make the Dodgers even better than they already are.

And they are already very good. Somewhat distracted by the news of the past week, but still very good.