As the Dodgers enter their Shohei Ohtani Era, failure is not an option

PHOENIX — Flags solely fly endlessly if you happen to elevate them.

At Dodgertown, the ancestral dwelling of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Seaside, Fla., a mural celebrating six World Collection winners greeted guests. No such signage exists at Camelback Ranch. The crew has gained the Nationwide League West 11 instances since shifting its spring coaching base to Arizona in 2009, however the franchise doesn’t memorialize mere postseason berths. The Dodgers supposed to construct a monument to the 2020 World Collection championship crew however pandemic-related development delays sidelined the undertaking, and the group moved on. There are not any murals and no banners, no portraits of protocol-following perseverance. For those who rely on commemorative decorations as your information, the triumph in a 60-game season could as properly not exist.

When Mark Walter, the proprietor of the Dodgers and the chief govt officer of Guggenheim Companions, met with two-way star Shohei Ohtani this previous winter, he tried to promote a imaginative and prescient based mostly on these conflicting truths, the immense delight and deep frustration inside his franchise. The Dodgers had change into a colossus since Walter’s group took over in 2012 — a perennial contender, taking part in earlier than crowds that lead the game in attendance, driving a cash machine now valued at almost $5 billion. But the success couldn’t offset the sting of October defeats. A collection of early postseason exits since 2020 had disillusioned Walter and people inside his baseball operations division. As he outlined the dichotomy, Walter wished to emphasize one thing to Ohtani: The proprietor thought of his tenure working the Dodgers to be an on-field failure.

“We’ve solely achieved it as soon as,” mentioned crew president Stan Kasten, who was current when Walter spoke to Ohtani. “And we have to do it extra usually than that.”

In Ohtani — who will debut as a Dodger this week throughout a two-game collection in Seoul, South Korea — Walter and the remainder of the group discovered a $700 million image of a brand new period. His arrival has vaulted the membership into a brand new monetary stratosphere, with a deferral-laden contract serving because the spine for a $1.2 billion offseason bonanza. His presence has heightened expectations for a crew that has not missed the postseason since Barack Obama’s first time period in workplace. Ohtani selected the Dodgers as a result of the franchise provided a pathway to October that had been foreclosed to him throughout six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. The Dodgers pursued Ohtani as a result of that they had grown uninterested in watching different franchises conduct parades in November.

And since a union between the 2 events made far an excessive amount of enterprise sense to go up.

When Kasten first heard about how Ohtani wished to construction his contract, he assumed he was lacking one thing. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman known as Kasten after a dialogue with Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo. “Are you able to repeat that?” Kasten mentioned. Over the course of a 10-year pact, Ohtani supposed to obtain solely $20 million, with $680 million deferred by 2043 so he wouldn’t handcuff his new crew.

Lately, the Dodgers have made deferrals a behavior. The contracts for each perennial MVP candidates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman function deferred hundreds of thousands. When the crew provided $300 million to Gerrit Cole after the 2019 season, the bid included deferrals. But the contract Ohtani sought offered a lot monetary flexibility to the crew that Friedman later admitted he wouldn’t have had the braveness to counsel it himself. Kasten described Walter as “very supportive” of the contract construction. “I might let you know to ask Mark about it,” Kasten mentioned. “However we all know that’s not going to occur.” (By a distinct crew official, Walter, who not often addresses the general public, declined an interview request.)

With Ohtani’s contract functioning successfully as a bank card, Friedman rebuilt the beginning rotation and bolstered the offense of a crew that gained 100 video games in 2023 regardless of myriad shortcomings. The Dodgers bested the game’s different monetary behemoths to land Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million deal. After buying Tampa Bay Rays starter Tyler Glasnow, the crew hammered out a $110 million extension. The signing of former All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernández for $23.5 million felt like an afterthought. Ohtani, in fact, was the most important prize. He won’t pitch this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgical procedure. However he can nonetheless encourage hyperbole. Freeman instructed that when his profession was over he would inform his grandchildren about taking part in with Ohtani, “similar to we discuss Babe Ruth.”

Step one on the highway to the purported promised land happened at Camelback Ranch three days after the Tremendous Bowl. Crowds lined either side of a path connecting the Dodgers clubhouse to a apply area for the crew’s first exercise. The speaker system blared a playlist that sounded as if it had not been up to date since 2016. Reporters stood atop step-ladders. Followers lofted selfie sticks. A person hoisted a toddler onto his shoulders. The throngs pressed towards the chain-link fence, determined for a glimpse of Los Angeles’ latest lodestar. When Ohtani jogged to the sector, the roar was loud sufficient to drown out the bridge of “I Knew You Had been Bother.” The soundtrack was becoming, a minimum of to the crew’s president.

“I don’t need to examine it to Taylor Swift, however I feel it’s our equal, by way of dialog,” Kasten mentioned. “It’s simply all over the place you look, persons are speaking about him.” Kasten framed the alliance as mutually useful. “He had been this outsized expertise for the final six years. However I feel pairing him with the dimensions of the Dodger model makes his influence and his visibility even bigger than it has been, till now.”

Dave Roberts rounded a nook and noticed a mass of media within the shade of the grapefruit bushes planted exterior Camelback Ranch. There was the standard group of American and Japanese reporters. However the media relations workers had put in a riser so seven totally different digital camera crews may movie the supervisor’s day by day briefing with out turning the group right into a rugby scrum. Roberts has chosen to greet the amplified consideration this yr with the amplification of his personal enthusiasm.

“Oh, wow!” Roberts mentioned. “Have a look at this setup, huh?”

When Ohtani was launched at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 15, he expressed confusion to Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis as he gazed out at rows and rows of attendees. Ohtani had been instructed solely media can be there. Davis needed to break it to Ohtani that the huge crowd was, the truth is, simply the media. An identical crush will greet Ohtani through the season, particularly at these video games in Seoul. The Dodgers are already coated by one of many bigger home press contingents. The group now contains round a dozen Japanese reporters, monitoring Ohtani’s exploits in granular element, from the variety of dwelling runs he hits in batting apply to the bigger that means of a fist bump with Hernández. When Invoice Plunkett of the Orange County Register requested Ohtani in passing about his canine, Dekopin, Plunkett’s image was plastered throughout Japanese newspapers.

Ohtani conducts group interviews a few times per week. He not often reveals a lot about himself. He values his privateness. Reporters have been discouraged from approaching Ohtani or Yamamoto for one-on-one conversations. The crew most popular to carry the group classes in entrance of a backdrop that includes promoting for Guggenheim. (The crew’s uniforms additionally now embody a Guggenheim patch.) For the gamers, the parade of reporters has wrought some genial irritation. The clubhouse is commonly barren when reporters are permitted inside.

“It’s simply lots of people,” pitcher Walker Buehler mentioned. “They’ll ask you two questions on you, after which six about Ohtani. And also you’ll be like, ‘You simply baited me! You baited me into this. You guys obtained me.’”

The first one who will take care of the scrutiny is Roberts. The courtship of Ohtani created unease for him. When Roberts determined on the Winter Conferences to disclose a Dodger Stadium sit-down with Ohtani — which no different official from any crew concerned within the sweepstakes had achieved beforehand — Friedman and normal supervisor Brandon Gomes declined to supply him a lot cowl. The group patched issues up later that week, however when the Dodgers launched Ohtani, Roberts was not on the stage.

As Roberts spoke to the group beside the grapefruit bushes, an intrepid eighth cameraman scaled a staircase main towards the advanced’s govt workplaces.

“Excuse me,” a safety guard instructed the cameraman, “it’s important to come down from there.”

The cameraman pointed to a Dodgers official.

“Excuse me,” the guard repeated.

The cameraman pointed once more. A crew official walked over. “He’s with us,” the staffer defined. SportsNet LA, the crew’s tv community, has produced 10 seasons of “Backstage: Dodgers,” which gives lighthearted seems to be on the inside workings of the franchise. The guard was adamant. Rules trumped content material; ultimately the cameraman left his perch and rejoined the scrum. Quickly after, Friedman and members of his baseball operations division, clad in three-quarter-zip pullovers, descended the steps.

To some, Roberts occupies the most well liked seat within the sport. Friedman has impregnable job safety. The Ohtani deal includes a provision known as a “key man” clause. He can decide out of his contract if Friedman or Walter leaves the group. The identical safety doesn’t apply to Roberts, whose contract runs by 2025. “If the very best preseason expectations in membership historical past crash,” esteemed Los Angeles Instances columnist Invoice Plaschke wrote lately, “the Dodgers will want a simple goal to take the blame, and that will probably be him.”

In eight seasons on the helm, Roberts has by no means gained fewer than 91 video games — aside from the shortened 2020 season, when the membership performed at a 116-win tempo. His .618 successful share is one of the best in Main League Baseball historical past. He would doubtless discover a bevy of suitors for his companies, particularly within the wake of latest Chicago Cubs supervisor Craig Counsell’s market-setting five-year, $40 million contract. Not like Counsell, Roberts has really gained a World Collection — even when his postseason resume comprises its share of strategic misfires.

Roberts has described something wanting a championship in 2024 as a bust. After all, he has spoken with that confidence earlier than. He assured the Dodgers would win the 2022 World Collection. That crew set a franchise document with 111 victories, however crashed out of the postseason in 4 video games. The frustration elevated the motivation so as to add Ohtani. Earlier than the season, Roberts instructed his gamers ought to fear much less about exterior noise and focus on particular person progress. Ignoring the noise, he acknowledged, will probably be harder than ever.

“This yr feels totally different since you’ve obtained, basically, one of the best participant on the planet,” Roberts mentioned. He added, “Individuals love beating the Yankees. And folks love beating the Dodgers. While you placed on this uniform, that’s what you join. However this yr, it’s somewhat bit extra excessive.”

The costliest pitcher within the historical past of Main League Baseball has by no means thrown a pitch in Main League Baseball. Each time Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound this spring, the event merited monitoring. As he unveiled his arsenal in a bullpen session through the crew’s first exercise, a gaggle of reporters watched from a distance. Roberts, Friedman and varied members of the teaching workers and entrance workplace stood behind the row of mounds. Standing behind the catcher, peering by a mesh-covered fence have been Buehler, reliever Daniel Hudson and starter James Paxton. Every took a peek as Yamamoto spun curveballs and splitters alongside together with his 95-mph fastball. “All the things simply explodes out of his hand,” Paxton mentioned a day later.

Yamamoto has been an object of fascination amongst big-league groups for years. The record of executives who traveled to Japan to observe him in 2023 included Friedman, New York Yankees normal supervisor Brian Cashman and San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. After the season, New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns made comparable jaunts to courtroom Yamamoto. The Yankees introduced Yamamoto together with his personal No. 18 jersey in pinstripes.

His free company sparked even higher zeal than anticipated. When the offseason started, some executives pegged Yamamoto in line for a contract value about $200 million. As the worth escalated, the Giants bowed out. The Yankees provided $300 million. So did the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers gained the bidding by matching Cohen’s supply after Yamamoto met with Betts, Freeman and, in fact, Ohtani.

Yamamoto represents the promise and the peril inherent within the Dodgers pitching workers. His stature is unremarkable; he stands 5-foot-10 and weighs about 175 kilos. He turned elite by a give attention to flexibility and unconventional actions like chucking a javelin. The transition from Japan to the main leagues will be difficult. Through the winter, Yamamoto familiarized himself with the baseball used within the main leagues, which is smaller and slicker than its equal in Japan. Throughout his spring debut, a center-field digital camera for SportsNet LA may seize the totally different grips of Yamamoto’s pitches.

The tipping dialogue that adopted didn’t immediate alterations to Yamamoto’s supply. The group expects him to guide its rotation, which can doubtless perform as one thing resembling a six-man unit to offer breaks for the starters. The regulars may have the remainder. Yamamoto has by no means pitched on the big-league schedule. Glasnow logged a career-high 120 innings final season. Paxton has thrown 117 2/3 innings since 2019. Buehler won’t start the season with the membership as he makes an attempt to return from his second Tommy John surgical procedure. Clayton Kershaw hopes to rejoin the crew by July or August as he recovers from the primary surgical procedure of his profession, a corrective process on his left shoulder. The record of rehabbing pitchers at Camelback Ranch will embody Dustin Could, Emmet Sheehan and Tony Gonsolin.

Regardless of the uncertainty, the crew expects its pitching to be wonderful. The identical can’t be mentioned for its infield protection. A collection of wayward throws by infielder Gavin Lux, who’s getting back from knee surgical procedure, satisfied the group to play Betts at shortstop, a place Betts had dealt with in solely 14 video games within the first 10 years of his big-league profession. Lux didn’t look significantly better after swapping locations with Betts to play second base.

The overwhelming energy of the Dodgers, the propulsive drive anticipated to vault the membership previous 100 victories but once more, would be the first three hitters within the lineup. Betts posted a .987 OPS final season with 39 homers and 40 doubles. Freeman put forth his typical output, with a .976 OPS, 29 homers and 59 doubles. Ohtani surpassed them each whereas pulling double obligation as a pitcher: 44 dwelling runs and a 1.066 OPS in an offense that offered scant safety. When executives across the sport grumble in regards to the Dodgers, they’re grumbling in regards to the prospect of making an attempt to close down this trio, throughout a season wherein Ohtani can consider his hitting.

At one level this spring, Roberts in contrast Ohtani to essentially the most proficient teammate he had ever had. Close to the tip of his taking part in profession, Roberts shared a clubhouse with Barry Bonds, the game’s all-time dwelling run chief, a slugger tarnished by his involvement with performance-enhancing medicine however revered by his friends for his expertise. Ohtani, Roberts thought, would possibly at some point surpass Bonds — in skill, if not homers.

“Shohei,” Roberts mentioned, “has an opportunity to be one of the best participant ever.”

The folks ringed the apply area, clicking cameras and lifting selfie sticks as soon as extra, as Ohtani settled into the batter’s field to face reside pitching for the primary time since his elbow surgical procedure. One fan clutched a painted portrait of the world’s most well-known designated hitter. This was a number of days after the primary exercise. The eye on Ohtani and the Dodgers had not slackened. If something, it had intensified, and would solely proceed to take action.

For a decade, Kershaw acted because the gravitational drive inside the Dodgers clubhouse. The duo of Betts and Freeman provided that presence in recent times. Given the magnitude of Ohtani’s fame, the ramifications of his contract and the extent of his skill, Ohtani should serve that function now. He has bonded with Hernández, a former American League West rival. Freeman pronounced himself amazed that Ohtani remembered the title of Freeman’s son, Charlie, after assembly the boy eventually yr’s All-Star Sport.

“He appears to be holding onto his stability, to the extent he can,” Kasten mentioned. “However it’s nearly like, in America, he can escape. As a result of in Japan, he can’t. I’ve been there lately. He’s all over the place.”

When Ohtani introduced his marriage, Japanese tv stations interrupted their programming. The Dodgers intend to capitalize on that devotion. “Considered one of our targets is to have baseball followers in Japan convert to Dodger blue,” Friedman mentioned at Ohtani’s introductory press convention. That effort is unlikely to finish with Ohtani and Yamamoto. The crew is predicted to make a full-pocketed pursuit of Rōki Sasaki, the 22-year-old right-handed phenom, each time the Chiba Lotte Marines make him obtainable. Guests to Dodger Stadium can anticipate a bevy of latest sponsorships adorning the ballpark. The costs of tickets to enter the ballpark are rising on the secondary market.

As Ohtani ready to face his new teammates in batting apply, followers and reporters catalogued his actions. When he related with a fastball from pitcher J.P. Feyereisen, the sound reverberated throughout the ability. The group gasped because the ball took flight. Ohtani watched it clear the center-field fence as he left the batter’s field. He peeled a pad off his surgically-repaired proper arm, which remained sheathed in a compression sleeve. He jogged again towards the clubhouse, previous the group screaming his title, one step nearer to Opening Day.

The judgment on this primary season of the 10-year union won’t come till October. Ohtani has by no means skilled the MLB playoffs. The Dodgers by no means miss an invite. The franchise launched into this period hoping to build up flags to lift and banners to proclaim championships.

Something much less can be a failure.

(High illustration by Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Images by George Rose / Getty Photographs; Gene Wang / Getty Photographs; David Durochik/Diamond Photographs)