Shohei Ohtani arrived in Japan on Sunday days ahead of the World Baseball Classic, and it was as if Paul McCartney had stepped foot in Liverpool.
Ohtani's teammates and fellow members of Team Japan all filed out of the train at Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka, Japan as fans that had gathered to welcome the club were largely quiet.
Then Ohtani stepped out of the train and the crowd went wild.
The fans in Japan were silent until Ohtani appeared pic.twitter.com/lZKOQvAjFQ
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 1, 2026
It's not the first time that Ohtani has been the recipient of loud cheers and ovations from his native Japan since rising to baseball superstardom in the United States. Ohtani's Dodgers opened the 2025 MLB season in Tokyo and the four-time MVP rose to the occasion, collecting two hits in Los Angeles's season-opening win over the Cubs, then belting a home run and nearly blowing the roof off of the Tokyo Dome in the second game.
Ohtani then won his second straight National League MVP Award, authored a postseason performance for the ages with a 10-strikeout, three-homer game in the National League Championship Series-clinching Game 4 win over the Brewers and helped the Dodgers win their second consecutive championship with a seven-game triumph over the Blue Jays.
While the fans in Japan are undoubtedly proud of Ohtani for those achievements, it's one accomplishment in particular that is the primary reason for the huge ovation he received at the train station. The Dodgers superstar powered Team Japan to a WBC title in 2023, closing the door on Team USA by striking out then-teammate Mike Trout with two outs in the ninth inning in a showdown for the ages. Ohtani hit .435, belted a home run and drove in eight runs while posting a 1.86 ERA in Team Japan's tournament triumph.
Ohtani won't be pitching in this year's WBC, but he'll look to continue to be impactful at the plate for Team Japan as he attempts to help the club defend its title.
Team Japan opens WBC pool play on March 6 against Chinese Taipei in the Tokyo Dome.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shohei Ohtani Got Rock Star Treatment While Arriving in Japan for World Baseball Classic.
