By Samurai Yujiro Taniyama – Japan Broadcasting . net Sports Editor
Los Angeles?! Oh not any more.
As quite a few ardent baseball fans of ingenuity would more than agree, the reigning MLB champions LA Dodgers is essentially ‘Made in Japan’, not California.
Four rice-mongering ballplayers from Tokyo, the descendants of Nomo, are strictly priceless. Let me explain.
First of all, slugger Shohei Ohtani (Number 17) 大谷翔平 – the Greatest Player of the Game, is the quintessence of the team. The home run king of 2023 and 2024 has smashed his season high 55 HRs also in 2025, scoring 146 runs. Unquestionably unbeatable.
Secondly, ace pitcher Yoshi Yamamoto (Number 18) 山本由伸. Incidentally the same name as Isorock Yamamoto 山本五十六, the legendary Admiral of Japan Navy during WW2, the unparalleled hurler of Japan is now an indisputable bedrock of Dodgers’ pitching squad.
Thirdly comes Rocky Sasaki, the 192cm 92kg 23 year old from northeastern coast of the Land of the Rising Sun. Roki- his actual registered name; lacerates podgy beer belly HR hitters like Schwarber with his 101 miles/h fastball. After four months of shoulder recuperation, the rookie (his first year in Yankeeland) is rocking like Rocky ‘Roki’ Balboa in ‘Rocky 2’ (1979). Number 11 is now the impeccable closer for Tokyo Dodgers.
Fourthly and lastly, we have pitcher Ohtani on the mound. The ‘two-way star’ that not only bats but also throws (something nobody else does) punished Philadelphia Phillies in yesterday’s Division-Series Game 1, with remarkable 9 strike outs in 6 innings.
Henceforth, these four key players are indisputably synonymous for what Dodgers is, this very day. So ‘Tokyo Dodgers’, not Los Angeles, let me argue with Samurai impertinency.
Mookie Betty (#50), Fred Freeman (#5), Double Hernandez (#37 and #8), Catcher Nomo (#16), Tom Edman (#25) and Kim (#6) are intrepid dodgers too. Nonetheless, the protagonists of the show in my prejudiced view are apparently ‘The Big 4’.
As long as the invective, self-regarding President of Yankeeland abstain from smoking Venezuelan cocaine and refrain from ordering their deportation (like the unintelligible Hyundai factory workers), I’m pretty certain that Tokyo Dodgers will be the last team standing this fall.
