The Los Angeles Dodgers have attracted some of baseball’s biggest international stars from overseas over the last couple of seasons, bringing in talents Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki to join Shohei Ohtani in LA’s core of Japanese superstars.
This offseason, though, they may not have the same luck.
Nippon Professional Baseball’s Tatsuya Imai has made waves since the Saitama Seibu Lions posted him this offseason, declaring he doesn’t want to join the Dodgers in the offseason — he wants to take them down.
“I want to beat them,” Imai said. “Beating a team like that and becoming world champions would be the most valuable thing in my life.”
Tatsuya Imai when asked about playing for the Dodgers:
“I want to beat them… beating a team like that and becoming world champions would be the most valuable thing in my life.”
Imai also prefers not to sign with a team that already has Japanese players (via @NekoSuke5_5_2) pic.twitter.com/cCGtPaRrvp
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) November 24, 2025
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Imai also stated he wants to avoid teams who already have Japanese players, as he wants to overcome the challenges MLB brings on his own.
“(If there were Japanese people) they’d just tell you anything if you asked, right?” imai said. “I don’t really want that; in a way, I want to experience that survival vibe, you know, and when facing cultural differences, making how I overcome them on my own one of the fun parts.”
Top Japanese pitching free agent Tatsuya Imai says he does not want to sign with a team that already has Japanese players https://t.co/8JJLNhgsk7
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) November 24, 2025
Imai became one of NPB’s most formidable pitchers over the last handful of years, and hasn’t posted an ERA higher than 3.00 in a single season since 2021. His best season in NPB came in 2025, where he posted a 1.92 ERA through 163.2 innings pitched. He has received NPB All-Star honors three times, in 2021, 2024 and 2025.
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Through the 163.2 innings he pitched in 2025, Imai posted a 0.892 WHIP, allowing just six home runs. He also struck out 178 batters, the second highest total of his career after he fanned 187 batters in 2024. Imai threw five complete games in 24 starts — three of which were shutouts — and set a club record with 17 strikeouts in one of those outings.
The Dodgers don’t need Imai, seeing as how they already have six fit starters for the 2026 season, so he may not have been an option for LA to begin with. After making these comments, though, both the Dodgers and their fans will have something to look forward to when they come to face the Japanese ace, whenever that may be.
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