Idyllic Act I of Ohtani's career appears over
More than most of the other major professional sports, baseball has a long history of scandal. The Black Sox, the Mitchell Report, Pete Rose.
For now, Shohei Ohtani doesn't look destined to join the list. But he's making the one mistake that all but guarantees more scrutiny: He refuses to talk about what happened with his interpreter and this large gambling debt that Ohtani may have been naive enough to pay directly to an illegal bookmaker under federal investigation.
Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani's ex-interpreter, is accused of stealing money from the two-way star to place bets with a bookmaker being investigated by American authorities. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara on Wednesday, hours after he was in L.A.'s dugout for their regular season-opening game in Seoul, South Korea.
It's very early in the process and we'll give Ohtani the benefit of the doubt for now that the basic facts of the situation are as they've been presented. The Dodgers were overseas when the story broke, and being that far from home is a hindrance to top-notch crisis communication.
As a member of the large-market Dodgers and being Japanese, Ohtani has a massive two-pronged media contingent that follows him. So there was immediately a horde of people prepared to hear what he had to say about this unfolding controversy.
Instead, we're left with descriptions of Ohtani being physically shielded by Dodgers staff in the clubhouse and otherwise taking great pains to stay in areas where reporters aren't allowed. The biggest news story in baseball has Ohtani's name attached to it and he's leaving a vacuum to be filled by speculation, conjecture, and more digging by reporters.
Ohtani's built a reputation in his professional career as a smiling cipher with no outward flaws who's big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all his fans. Access to him was carefully controlled when he was in Anaheim. But early in spring training, manager Dave Roberts seemed to make it clear that the Dodgers and his teammates may not let him continue being the Forrest Gump of MLB. Life is like a box of chocolates and sometimes you get one tinged with scandal that must be addressed.
There's a week now before the Dodgers' regular season resumes. During that time, Ohtani's past and present teams will play a three-game slate to fill the rest of spring training, which will only increase the number of reporters looking for his thoughts on all this. Ohtani and the Dodgers need to use the next week productively to get back in front of this story and present his narrative, assuming it's true and unsullied.
It's time for Shohei Ohtani to step out of the shadows. His idyllic Act I is over.
Guy Spurrier is features editor at theScore