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

PHOENIX — Flags solely fly without end when you elevate them.

At Dodgertown, the ancestral house of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Beach, Fla., a mural celebrating six World Series winners greeted guests. No such signage exists at Camelback Ranch. The group has received the National League West 11 instances since shifting its spring coaching base to Arizona in 2009, however the franchise does not memorialize mere postseason berths. The Dodgers meant to construct a monument to the 2020 World Series championship group however pandemic-related building delays sidelined the venture, and the group moved on. There are not any murals and no banners, no portraits of protocol-following perseverance. If you depend upon commemorative decorations as your information, the triumph in a 60-game season could as effectively not exist.

When Mark Walter, the proprietor of the Dodgers and the chief government officer of Guggenheim Partners, met with two-way star Shohei Ohtani this previous winter, he tried to promote a imaginative and prescient primarily based on these conflicting truths, the immense delight and deep frustration inside his franchise. The Dodgers had develop into a colossus since Walter’s group took over in 2012 — a perennial contender, enjoying earlier than crowds that lead the sport in attendance, driving a cash machine now valued at almost $5 billion. Yet the success may not offset the sting of October defeats. A collection of early postseason exits since 2020 had upset 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 operating the Dodgers to be an on-field failure.

“We’ve only done it once,” mentioned group president Stan Kasten, who was current when Walter spoke to Ohtani. “And we need to do it more often 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 as the spine for a $1.2 billion offseason bonanza. His presence has heightened expectations for a group 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 they’d grown bored with watching different franchises conduct parades in November.

And as a result of a union between the two events made far an excessive amount of enterprise sense to move 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 referred to as Kasten after a dialogue with Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo. “Can you repeat that?” Kasten mentioned. Over the course of a 10-year pact, Ohtani meant to obtain solely $20 million, with $680 million deferred by means of 2043 so he would not handcuff his new group.

In current years, 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 group provided $300 million to Gerrit Cole after the 2019 season, the bid included deferrals. Yet the contract Ohtani sought supplied a lot monetary flexibility to the group that Friedman later admitted he would not have had the braveness to counsel it himself. Kasten described Walter as “very supportive” of the contract construction. “I would tell you to ask Mark about it,” Kasten mentioned. “But we know that’s not going to happen.” (Through a distinct group official, Walter, who not often addresses the 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 group that received 100 video games in 2023 regardless of myriad shortcomings. The Dodgers bested the sport’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 group hammered out a $110 million extension. The signing of former All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernández for $23.5 million felt like an afterthought. Ohtani, after all, was the largest prize. He will not pitch this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgical procedure. But he can nonetheless encourage hyperbole. Freeman urged that when his profession was over he would inform his grandchildren about enjoying with Ohtani, “just like we talk about Babe Ruth.”

The first step on the street to the purported promised land occurred at Camelback Ranch three days after the Super Bowl. Crowds lined each side of a path connecting the Dodgers clubhouse to a follow area for the group’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. Fans lofted selfie sticks. A person hoisted a baby onto his shoulders. The throngs pressed in opposition to the chain-link fence, determined for a glimpse of Los Angeles’ latest lodestar. When Ohtani jogged to the area, the roar was loud sufficient to drown out the bridge of “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The soundtrack was becoming, not less than to the group’s president.

“I don’t want to compare it to Taylor Swift, but I think it’s our equivalent, in terms of conversation,” Kasten mentioned. “It’s just everywhere you look, people are talking about him.” Kasten framed the alliance as mutually useful. “He had been this outsized talent for the last six years. But I think pairing him with the size of the Dodger brand makes his impact and his visibility even larger than it has been, until now.”

Dave Roberts rounded a nook and noticed a mass of media in the shade of the grapefruit bushes planted outdoors Camelback Ranch. There was the common group of American and Japanese reporters. But the media relations workers had put in a riser so seven completely different digital camera crews may movie the supervisor’s every day briefing with out turning the crowd right into a rugby scrum. Roberts has chosen to greet the amplified consideration this 12 months with the amplification of his personal enthusiasm.

“Oh, wow!” Roberts mentioned. “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 informed solely media can be there. Davis needed to break it to Ohtani that the large crowd was, in reality, simply the media. The same crush will greet Ohtani throughout the season, particularly at these video games in Seoul. The Dodgers are already coated by considered one of the bigger home press contingents. The group now consists of round a dozen Japanese reporters, monitoring Ohtani’s exploits in granular element, from the variety of house runs he hits in batting follow to the bigger which means of a fist bump with Hernández. When Bill 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 couple of 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 group most well-liked to carry the group classes in entrance of a backdrop that includes promoting for Guggenheim. (The group’s uniforms additionally now embrace a Guggenheim patch.) For the gamers, the parade of reporters has wrought some genial irritation. The clubhouse is usually barren when reporters are permitted inside.

“It’s just a lot of people,” pitcher Walker Buehler mentioned. “They’ll ask you two questions about you, and then six about Ohtani. And you’ll be like, ‘You just baited me! You baited me into this. You guys got me.’”

The major one who will cope with the scrutiny is Roberts. The courtship of Ohtani created unease for him. When Roberts determined at the Winter Meetings to disclose a Dodger Stadium sit-down with Ohtani — which no different official from any group concerned in the sweepstakes had achieved beforehand — Friedman and basic 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 government workplaces.

“Excuse me,” a safety guard informed the cameraman, “you have to come down from there.”

The cameraman pointed to a Dodgers official.

“Excuse me,” the guard repeated.

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

To some, Roberts occupies the hottest seat in the sport. Friedman has impregnable job safety. The Ohtani deal includes a provision referred to as a “key man” clause. He can decide out of his contract if Friedman or Walter leaves the group. The similar safety does not apply to Roberts, whose contract runs by means of 2025. “If the highest preseason expectations in club history crash,” esteemed Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote not too long ago, “the Dodgers will need an easy target to take the blame, and that will be him.”

In eight seasons at the helm, Roberts has by no means received fewer than 91 video games — apart from the shortened 2020 season, when the membership performed at a 116-win tempo. His .618 successful proportion is the greatest in Major League Baseball historical past. He would seemingly discover a bevy of suitors for his providers, particularly in the wake of latest Chicago Cubs supervisor Craig Counsell’s market-setting five-year, $40 million contract. Unlike Counsell, Roberts has truly received a World Series — even when his postseason resume accommodates its share of strategic misfires.

Roberts has described something in need of a championship in 2024 as a bust. Of course, he has spoken with that confidence earlier than. He assured the Dodgers would win the 2022 World Series. That group set a franchise file with 111 victories, however crashed out of the postseason in 4 video games. The disappointment elevated the motivation so as to add Ohtani. Before the season, Roberts urged his gamers ought to fear much less about exterior noise and focus on particular person progress. Ignoring the noise, he acknowledged, can be harder than ever.

“This year feels different because you’ve got, essentially, the best player on the planet,” Roberts mentioned. He added, “People love beating the Yankees. And people love beating the Dodgers. When you put on this uniform, that’s what you sign up for. But this year, it’s a little bit more extreme.”

The most costly pitcher in the historical past of Major League Baseball has by no means thrown a pitch in Major League Baseball. Whenever Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound this spring, the event merited monitoring. As he unveiled his arsenal in a bullpen session throughout the group’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 means of a mesh-covered fence have been Buehler, reliever Daniel Hudson and starter James Paxton. Each took a peek as Yamamoto spun curveballs and splitters alongside along with his 95-mph fastball. “Everything just 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 basic 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 along with his personal No. 18 jersey in pinstripes.

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

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

The tipping dialogue that adopted did not immediate alterations to Yamamoto’s supply. The group expects him to guide its rotation, which can seemingly operate as one thing resembling a six-man unit to offer breaks for the starters. The regulars may have the relaxation. 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 will not 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 group by July or August as he recovers from the first surgical procedure of his profession, a corrective process on his left shoulder. The record of rehabbing pitchers at Camelback Ranch will embrace Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan and Tony Gonsolin.

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

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

At one level this spring, Roberts in contrast Ohtani to the most proficient teammate he had ever had. Near the finish of his enjoying profession, Roberts shared a clubhouse with Barry Bonds, the sport’s all-time house run chief, a slugger tarnished by his involvement with performance-enhancing medication however revered by his friends for his expertise. Ohtani, Roberts thought, may sooner or later surpass Bonds — in capacity, if not homers.

“Shohei,” Roberts mentioned, “has a chance to be the best player ever.”

The individuals ringed the follow area, clicking cameras and lifting selfie sticks as soon as extra, as Ohtani settled into the batter’s field to face dwell pitching for the first 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 first exercise. The consideration 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 as the gravitational pressure 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 capacity, Ohtani should serve that position now. He has bonded with Hernández, a former American League West rival. Freeman pronounced himself amazed that Ohtani remembered the identify of Freeman’s son, Charlie, after assembly the boy ultimately 12 months’s All-Star Game.

“He seems to be holding onto his balance, to the extent he can,” Kasten mentioned. “But it’s almost like, in America, he can escape. Because in Japan, he can’t. I’ve been there recently. He’s everywhere.”

When Ohtani introduced his marriage, Japanese tv stations interrupted their programming. The Dodgers intend to capitalize on that devotion. “One of our goals is to have baseball fans 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 group is anticipated to make a full-pocketed pursuit of Rōki Sasaki, the 22-year-old right-handed phenom, every time the Chiba Lotte Marines make him obtainable. Visitors to Dodger Stadium can count on 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 follow, followers and reporters catalogued his actions. When he related with a fastball from pitcher J.P. Feyereisen, the sound reverberated throughout the facility. The crowd gasped as 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 crowd screaming his identify, one step nearer to Opening Day.

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

Anything much less can be a failure.

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