Long before Tsuyoshi Shinjo was Big Boss or the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager, he was an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants who made history as the first Japanese player to appear in the World Series.
Shinjo got the ball rolling for Japanese stars in MLB’s Fall Classic in 2002, and the list of Japanese players to vie for the title eventually grew to 13 in 2020, when Yoshitomo Tsutsugo made it with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Two more players will join the club this year when superstar talent Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto take the field for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will battle the New York Yankees for the title.
In a matchup featuring superstar players everywhere you look, Ohtani is likely to be the center of attention — especially in Japan.
Ohtani is in his first year with the Dodgers after signing a $700 million deal in the offseason. He became the first player in MLB history to record 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in the same season — finishing with 54 and 59, respectively.
“I never really focused on it this being my first year,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton during media day on Thursday. “I just really focused on playing each and every single game and doing the best that I can and imagining that I would be standing on this stage.”
Many consider the presumptive National League MVP to be the best player in the game — including Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, who is widely expected to win the MVP award in the American League.
"He hits for average, he hits for power,” Judge said during a news conference on Tuesday. “The speed, doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases, I don't think it got talked about enough. It's just, he's an impressive athlete. He's the best player in the game, and what an ambassador for this sport.”
The Dodgers punched their ticket by defeating the New York Mets in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday. The Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians in five games to win the American League pennant.
“I think the whole world was looking forward or hoping for this potential match-up, this showdown,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose mother is Japanese. Roberts, who was born in Naha, won a World Series as a player with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and as the Dodgers manager in 2020.
Shinjo did not come away with a World Series ring in 2002, with the Giants falling in seven games. Hideki Matsui was then on the losing side with the Yankees in 2003, and So Taguchi’s St. Louis Cardinals came up short in 2004.
It was not until Tadahito Iguchi’s Chicago White Sox defeated the Houston Astros in 2005 that Japan celebrated a homegrown World Series winner.
Iguchi was not just along for the ride, appearing in 135 games during the regular season and batting .278 with 15 homers. He was fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.
He started in all four games of the World Series, when the White Sox swept the Houston Astros, though he finished .167 at the plate.
There were Japanese players on each of the next four World Series winners.
Taguchi earned the first of his two rings with the 2006 Cardinals and was on the active roster (but did not play) when the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Rays and Akinori Iwamura in 2008.
In between Taguchi’s triumphs, pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima won with the 2007 Boston Red Sox, who swept the Colorado Rockies and infielder Kazuo Matsui.
Matsuzaka made one start, allowing a pair of runs and striking out five over 5⅓ innings in Game 3. “Dice-K” was the first Japanese pitcher to start and win a World Series game. Okajima made a relief appearance in Game 2 to become the first Japanese player to pitch in a World Series game. He made three appearances overall and gave up three runs — two earned — in 3⅔ innings.
Hideki Matsui made his second World Series appearance with the Yankees 2009 and had the best performance by a Japanese player in the Fall Classic.
“Godzilla” torched the Phillies, hitting .615 with three home runs and eight RBIs in six games. Matsui tied a World Series record with six RBIs in Game 6, four of which came against future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez.
The Yankees won the series and Matsui, the 2000 Japan Series MVP with the Yomiuri Giants, became the first Japanese player to win World Series MVP. Matsui is the only player to win both awards.
The next Japanese winners were Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa with the Red Sox in 2013.
Uehara was the club’s star closer and the MVP of that year’s American League Championship Series. He made five appearances in the World Series, throwing 4⅔ scoreless innings. He recorded the first two saves by a Japanese pitcher in Series history and ended the series with a strikeout in Game 6.
Tazawa pitched in five games, recording 2⅓ scoreless innings.
Tazawa and Uehara are the last two Japanese players to appear on a winning team.
Norichika Aoki, who last month announced his retirement from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and the Kansas City Royals lost to the San Francisco Giants in seven games in 2014.
The 2017 World Series featured Yu Darvish’s infamous blowup in Game 7 against the Houston Astros when he allowed five runs — four earned — in 1⅔ innings at Dodger Stadium.
That series, however, is best remembered for being part of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, which tainted the triumph in the eyes of many.
Kenta Maeda was also on the 2017 Dodgers and remained with the club in 2018, when it lost against the Red Sox.
There were not any Japanese players in the Los Angeles roster when the Dodgers broke through in 2020, but their victory denied Tsutsugo a championship.
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