The baseball superstar had promised manager Dave Roberts he would give him a car if the team won the World Series – which they did in October.
Shohei Ohtani’s team manager Dave Roberts has been reminded that his player still owes him a car – thanks to a promise made by the Japanese superstar that he would do so were the Los Angeles Dodgers to win baseball’s World Series.
Which is exactly what happened, when the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees more than a month ago to win their eighth pennant.
Visiting Tokyo on Wednesday and speaking to mostly Japanese reporters, Roberts was reminded that Ohtani had given teammate Joe Kelly a new Porsche when Kelly agreed to hand over his No 17 shirt after he joined the Dodgers from the Angels.
Subsequently, Ohtani gave Roberts a toy Porsche and then, according to Roberts, hinted the real thing might still be coming.
Shohei Ohtani is the first MLB player to achieve 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season. Photo: AP
“Where’s my real car?” Roberts recalled asking.
According to Roberts, Ohtani replied; “If we win the World Series, maybe we’ll talk about it.”
Well, Roberts suggested, he told Ohtani he was ready to talk, even if it is only in jest.
“So we won the World Series,” Roberts said. “I don’t know. Good question.”
Roberts said Ohtani – who has won three MVP awards – could get even better at the plate.
“I think with Shohei there were some parts of his season where he was a little too aggressive swinging,” Roberts said. “And I think there’s still room in there for him to be a little more disciplined at the plate. We can make him potentially even better.”
The Dodgers and Cubs open the Major League Baseball season on March 18-19 at the Tokyo Dome. Roberts ruled out Ohtani pitching in that first series.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I expect him to be in the line-up as a hitter,” Roberts said. “But as far as the pitching. He hasn’t pitched in over a year. We have to manage how many innings he has for 2025. If we start him in March he won’t be able to sustain that through October.”
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts speaks during an event in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: Kyodo
Roberts was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in Okinawa to a mother from Okinawa and an American father who served in the United States military. He was headed there on Wednesday to visit family – uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
He called his mother “my heart” and laughed that he got angry with her at times because he thought she dressed him “like a girl”. He said his father died six years ago.
“He did a great job of raising me,” he said. “I miss him every day.”
Roberts has filmed a television spot for Japanese sponsor Kinoshita Group, an entertainment company. Without giving away much, he said, the message in the spot was that “people need each other” and it matters how you treat others if they are to “reach their potential”.
He said of the spot: “I think it’s going to make an impact.”
He also delved into his interest in mental health, mentioning how emotions were often suppressed when he was growing up in Japanese culture. He talked about being active in Changing Tides, a Los Angeles-based group that promotes mental health in the Asian-American community.
“Emotions in the Japanese culture I grew up in weren’t always shared,” he said. “Everything was always supposed to OK. And we didn’t talk about how we truly felt.”
