When you, as the most expensive athlete in your profession, get paid 70 million dollars (around 65 million euros) every year, not only do your expectations rise. In his case, it raises the pulse of an entire country. In mid-October, almost 13 million Japanese sat in front of their television screens on a Saturday morning at 9 a.m. local time to see the best baseball professional in the world live: Shohei Ohtani.
Actually, it was about relatively little. It was a matchup in the round of the last eight in Major League Baseball. But it was also a first serious test of performance for Ohtani, who, almost a year ago, was able to escape a team that was anything but suitable for a title by moving to the Los Angeles Dodgers: the local rivals of the Los Angeles Angels just 50 kilometers further south. With the new team, everything would change, he said, and his long-held dream would be “100 percent” fulfilled: win the championship as often as possible and then hold “victory parades in the streets of Los Angeles.”
Carried away by the constellation
In the meantime, the 30-year-old, who in the sport’s division of labor normally plays an unusual dual role as pitcher and batter, as a thrower and hitter, and is excellent in both categories, only has to deal with one opponent on the way to his first title: The New York Yankees, the most prestigious sports team in the United States, which gained its historic reputation, among other things, from a rivalry with the Dodgers.
The two faced each other eleven times in the World Series between 1941 and 1981. More often than any other team. However, the Dodgers left the field defeated eight times. In the first arguments, the whole thing was characterized by local pride, because at that time the Dodgers were at home in the New York borough of Brooklyn. But in 1957 they packed up everything – players, staff, management and their reputation – and moved to the West Coast.
Since then, there have been more than 4,000 kilometers between the two teams. It has been many years since the Dodgers and Yankees last faced each other in the Finals Series. That was in 1981. Despite this long break – or perhaps even because of it – even uninvolved observers are entranced by the constellation. The Washington Post reported the appointment in its headline on Monday as “charming, offensive and a baseball dream.” A “Hollywood versus Broadway game,” as the London “Independent” wrote and at the same time mocked: The argument lacked any romantic fluidity; The winner is – one way or another – a “financial and sporting colossus”.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have already triumphed in the National League. Now the final series, the so-called “World Series”, is coming up.AP
But it is a duel in which an arrogance that is deeply rooted in both clubs resonates. Something that resonated in Dodgers head coach Dave Roberts’ assessment when he declaimed after the semifinal victory over the New York Mets: “I think the whole world wanted to see these two teams and was hoping for it to happen. “Which, by the way, deliberately ignores the fact that there are 28 other pretty good teams playing in the Major League, which consists of the two pillars American League (represented by the Yankees) and National League (represented by the Dodgers), of which in the last ten A surprising number of years, namely eight, had won the World Series.
In fact, the era of absolute dominance that the Yankees managed to produce again and again with one generation of talent after another is over. Because as expensive and good as Ohtani is, he hasn’t been used as a pitcher the entire season because his throwing arm is being spared due to a second elbow operation: without a whole team of experts at his side like Mookie Betts with the Dodgers or the backing orchestra for Aaron Judge and Juan Soto with the Yankees, any lofty goals are just cloud cuckoo lands.
Especially since the play-offs were expanded to six teams in 2022. Which often produces “weird results” and a “crazy tournament atmosphere,” according to the Washington Post, but not necessarily a final with the best teams. At least this time is different: What remains are the marketable top stars and the two best teams of the season. They will play for the title in a best-of-seven series from Friday (local time; CEST Saturday 2:08 a.m. on Sport1+) starting in Los Angeles.
The team’s figurehead
The series today even lives up to the pretentious name that has been in use since the late 19th century, when the sport of baseball was anything but global. It had not yet even gained a foothold in today’s strongholds of Japan and Central America. In contrast, the 2024 Dodgers even have a second Japanese on their roster, pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And with Roberts, a head coach who was born on Okinawa and has a Japanese mother. Other important players come from Venezuela and the Caribbean.
The Yankees also have imported professional baseball players, including Juan Soto from the Dominican Republic. The confident and powerful outfielder is just 24 years old, but already won his first championship with the Washington Nationals in 2019. He is only under contract in New York for this season – for 31 million dollars (around 29 million euros) – and is therefore only slightly behind Aaron Judge, the team’s figurehead. He earns $40 million (around €37 million) per year and is tied to the club for another seven years.
Seven years will show whether Major League Baseball can stop the former number one sport from falling to third place on the popularity scale behind the NFL and the NBA. It shouldn’t be because of the rich teams in the country’s two largest metropolises. The New York Times believes that an exceptional figure like Shohei Ohtani will definitely stimulate the interest of casual fans in North America. The ball with which the Japanese hit his 50th home run of the season has just been auctioned off.
As the Goldin auction house announced on Wednesday, it fetched 4.39 million dollars (4.06 million euros). With the hit, the Japanese became the first player in MLB history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season. Dodgers coach Roberts said before the final: “This is the best thing that could have happened to our game. Two iconic clubs and so much talent on the pitch.” A treat for baseball fans. No matter where.
