Baseball is Back! Ohtani Wins Big in Japan

08 April 2025

The new Major League Baseball season is up and running, and it kicked off in Japan. Shohei Ohtani and the rest of the LA Dodgers team secured back to back wins against the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Series.

With Todd Harris, to consider the likely movers and shakers in 2025, was former pitcher Jay Jackson, who played in both America and Japan. Jay told Todd that the Japanese are 24 carat baseball fans.

“The love they have for that sport, and the energy they show for the teams and the guys there, it's just unbelievable. Me playing there personally, you always see the support there. I feel like, you know, in America we have a tendency if guys don't perform well, we start tearing them down. Over there is the complete opposite. They realize how impressive and how awesome it is to be able to play those sports and how much dedication and time it takes, and they just respect it a little bit more.”

On the subject of super-fans, Jay is like a super-pundit. His knowledge of every team and all the key players is encyclopaedic. So, for example, on whether the LA Dodgers, with their superstar Ohtani, can repeat last year’s achievement, he talked not just about their good business over the close season, but their culture.

“The organization they have and the way they treat their players in LA, from everybody I've talked to, everybody wants to go to LA and play. Guys are taking probably less money to go there so they have a chance to win. But I think it's also the culture they built there as well. They definitely have a chance to do the same thing over again. They didn't lose anything and gain more. It's going to be interesting to see how they play.”

He didn’t stop with the Dodgers: mention a team, and Jay could offer a detailed analysis.

“The Phillies have such a talented team and they've got a good playoff pedigree. They got a lot of championship ball players… Then you have the Braves. I think once they figure it out a little bit, they're struggling a little bit right now. But as they get going forward, I think that starting rotation, once they they get their footing under them, I think the Braves will have have a good chance to, you know, vie for a spot in the playoffs as well at some point… Juan Soto is a huge piece for the Mets. I think the Mets just have to continue to build around him. And I think that they got a lot done. That team is going to be a force in the next few years for sure.”

Much of his insight is based on personal experience. As a pitcher, he hated facing the Yankees, because of their detailed research and game plan.

“The Yankees, you know, they're trying to find your tips on your pitches. They're trying to find your tells and everything. They're watching your hand movements. They're picking it. They have scouts everywhere, trying to find every little thing they can to relay to the hitters.”

The difficulty for the pitchers is made exponentially harder by “torpedo bats”. What, those of us on the other side of the pond, might ask, are torpedo bats? Well, they distribute the wood in a different geometric shape than the traditional form to ensure the fattest part of the bat is located where any given player makes the most contact. Essentially the bats are designed specifically for each hitter, and can turn a good hitter into a great one. This evolution of the bat hasn’t been greeted with universal acclaim. In fact, Jay has a vision of how this might develop, when allied with the kind of research engaged in by the Yankees.

“Why,” asked Jay, “are we tailoring these bats to these pitch to these batters instead of just making them get better, instead of it being the best hitters in the best league of all time?
“And so a hitter knows what pitchers are coming up, how they face them and where they normally pitch them or whatever else. And so then they get a specific torpedo bat to go face that pitcher. That would be wild, right? But I think that might be the next way that it goes to.”
Away from that possibly dystopian speculation, Todd pushed Jay for his tip for the World Series.

“I know truly, my true prediction is probably going to be the Dodgers and the Red Sox, but my biased opinion is going to be the Phillies and the Red Sox. Wow. That's what I have. Phillies and the Red Sox. I see it going six games. I see the Phillies squeaking it out. And I think Bryce gets it, Bryce ends up being the MVP.”