TOKYO — The baseball-mad country of Japan greeted perhaps the brightest star it has ever produced with silence.
When Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box to open Major League Baseball’s season against his fellow countryman, Shota Imanaga, the 42,365 fans inside the Tokyo Dome quieted. Such is the custom. The Chicago Cubs were technically the home team in this international showcase. But it’s the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, unmatched in their spending and envied for their dominance in the sport, whose presence looms largest in this country.
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No one is more influential than Ohtani. It’s Ohtani’s face that is plastered on advertisements throughout Tokyo and beyond. Ohtani
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