By BILL WATANABE

Ten years ago I could not have imagined a time when Japanese baseball players would dominate the L.A. sports scene and occupy the headlines in the local papers and media. We had a hint of Nikkei sports stardom with the advent of Hideo Nomo in the 1990s followed by the incomparable Ichiro Suzuki — inducted this year as a Hall of Famer at Cooperstown.

Then along came a slew of Japanese-born players to impact the American Major Leagues such as Yu Darvish, Hideki Matsui, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Kenta Maeda, and many more now playing or having played for various major league teams across the country. It is no longer unusual to see Japanese players playing in the MLB All-Star Game.

With the coming of Shohei Ohtani and the enshrinement of Ichiro, Japanese players are now in the category of “super-stars,” a title that once was given to players like Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Joe Dimaggio, Sandy Koufax, and of course the great Babe Ruth – the former “GOAT” (Greatest of All Time) of Major League Baseball. (I prefer not to place the tag of “super-stars” to players like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens, who played under a cloud of suspicion of taking performance-enhancing drugs).

This year, the 2025 major league season, has brought national attention to the arrival of another “super-star” from Japan in the person of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. During the playoffs, Shohei showed his multi-talented skills as usual, demonstrating all-star status as both a batter and a pitcher. But even the great (and perhaps the new reigning GOAT) Shohei was overshadowed by the performance of Dodger teammate Yamamoto during the playoffs and the World Series.

Yamamoto’s heroics in Game 7 of the World Series will go down in history as one of the gutsiest efforts by any pitcher ever in the playoffs, especially coming after pitching and getting the win just the day before in Game 6.

Getting back to the GOAT of our generation – there is talk that perhaps in 2026, barring any serious injury to Shohei, we may witness the possibility of one player winning both the Cy Young and the batting crown awards in a single season; even the possibility of achieving such a record would be amazing if compiled for an entire career!

There is also the chance that a Japanese player could win the Cy Young Award and another Japanese player win the MVP or batting champion award in a single year. Who could have imagined such a possibility before the Ohtani and now Yamamoto phenomenon?

It’s a good time to be a Dodger fan; it is an especially GREAT time to be a Japanese American Dodger fan!

Bill Watanabe writes from Silverlake near Downtown Los Angeles and can be contacted at ybwatanabe@gmail.com. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.

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