(Mitsuru Tanaka: Associate Professor, Faculty of Sports Management, Shobi University)
In the US Major League Baseball World Series (WS), the National League champion Dodgers, whose players include Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, defeated the American League champion Yankees with a score of 4 wins and 1 loss, making it their 8th championship in 4 years. I stood there. This was Otani’s long-awaited first series victory in his seventh year in the major leagues, and sports topics in Japan are all about Otani and WS.
Japan’s professional baseball world was unlucky. The dates for this year’s Japan Series between Pacific League champion Softbank and Central League champion DeNA overlapped with WS. Due to the time difference, the game time slot was divided into morning and evening, but Fuji TV, which broadcast the WS live in the morning, also broadcast a digest version during the Japan Series game time in the evening, resulting in a situation where Fuji TV was at a loss. Also.
The sense of crisis in the Japanese baseball world is at an all-time high, with reports that the Japan Baseball Organization (NPB) has confiscated Fuji TV’s interview passes.
On November 1st, sports newspapers heavily reported on the Dodgers’ victory and Shohei Ohtani’s performance (Photo: taken by the author)
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“The best Otani in the world”, “Otani achieves his dreams with the best smile”, and “His long-awaited dream with the Dodgers”.
On November 1st, sports newspapers with flashy headlines were lined up at kiosks inside Tokyo stations.
Isshiki Otani was featured on the front pages of all six major newspapers: Nikkan Sports, Sports Nippon, Sankei Sports, Sports Hochi, Daily Sports, and Tokyo Chunichi Sports.
The first page of the Sponichi newspaper had the words “Big development, congratulations on Dodgers victory”, and the second and third pages of the newspaper were also filled with WS-related articles, and the fourth page had a full-page advertisement from a company congratulating Otani. , the fifth page is decorated with a team photo of the Dodgers celebrating their World Championship victory.
Nikkan Sports also had WS-related articles lined up on page 5. The night before, NHK’s news program “News Watch 9” and other programs reported on the news one after another.
Otani, who is already the “face” of the Dodgers despite being in his first year with the team, transferred to the Dodgers this season on an unprecedented contract worth over 100 billion yen (at the time of contract) over 10 years, and hit an unprecedented 50 home runs in the regular season. Marked 50 stolen bases (50-50). He achieved the ultimate honor of winning the WS, and the baseball world truly became “Otani’s season.”
Meanwhile, in Japan, the Japan Series, which determines the annual professional baseball champion, is reaching its climax.
