When Shohei Ohtani was still a student at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture, he wrote down a detailed list of goals that he wanted to accomplish in life.
One of those was to win the World Series. That dream became reality when the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied past the New York Yankees for a 7-6 win in Game 5 of the Fall Classic to secure the title at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
Ohtani rushed onto the field after the final out to celebrate with his teammates and slipped into a gray championship T-shirt. The celebration spilled into the clubhouse, where the players sprayed each other with beer and champagne after reaching the MLB summit following a long and arduous climb.
“I had it on my list,” Ohtani said on MLB Network after Game 5. “I had planned to do it sooner, but unfortunately it took this long. But I had always wanted to have a moment like this, and I’d like to have another champagne fight next year and beyond. I want to start from scratch and do my best again.”
Ohtani has now won nearly everything he has had a chance to win as a professional. He won the Japan Series with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2016 and the World Baseball Classic with Japan in 2023.
With Wednesday's win, Ohtani completed the journey he began when he left the Fighters after the 2017 NPB season to move to MLB via the posting system.
“For him to hoist that World Series trophy, that's something he dreamed of, I'm sure, for quite some time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The World Series was not the first goal Ohtani crossed off his list this year. He also got married, which he revealed in a surprise announcement before the season.
“It’s a long season,” he said during his postgame news conference on Wednesday. “I’m used to it, but she is not. I’m grateful she supported me over such a long time.”
Winning the World Series is the end of one chapter for Ohtani, but it may also be the first step to even loftier heights for the game’s best player.
Ohtani spent six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels without reaching the postseason. He moved to the Dodgers as a free agent for the chance to win — and for a 10-year, $700 million contract — and won a title in his first season.
Instead of being weighed down by the pressure of playing for a team expected to win a championship or the burden of trying to live up to his record contract, Ohtani thrived.
He did not pitch in 2024 as he recovered from elbow surgery but still defied expectations.
Ohtani hit 54 homers and stole 59 bases to become the first player in MLB history to produce a 50-50 season. He batted .310 and drove in 130 runs. He set the record for home runs and stolen bases by a Japanese player in a single season and became the first Dodgers player with a 50-homer season. He led MLB in extra-base hits (99), total bases (411) and runs (134) while finishing second in home runs, stolen bases, RBIs and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.036).
Before establishing the 50-50 club, Ohtani was the sixth player to have a 40-40 season. In a few weeks, he will likely be the National League MVP.
The Dodgers finished the regular season with the best record in baseball and won the National League West to give Ohtani his first taste of team success in MLB to go with his laundry list of individual accolades.
“We were able to get through the regular season, I think, because of the strength of this team, this organization,” Ohtani said after Game 5. “And the success of the postseason is very similar to how we were able to pull it off during the regular season. Again, the strength of the organization.”
After missing the playoffs early in his career, he got the Dodgers’ postseason rolling with a three-run homer against the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, his first MLB postseason game. He hit three home runs and had 10 RBIs during the postseason.
He did not have a good World Series, though he was limited after partially dislocating his left shoulder in Game 2. Ohtani, however, dealt with the pain and remained in the lineup for the remainder of the series.
“It helped us, because if Shohei's in the lineup, it still is a presence,” Roberts said. “I think that what Freddie was going through certainly helped Shohei and convinced Shohei to be in the lineup too,” he added, referring to World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, who played on an injured ankle throughout the playoffs.
“I just think he earned even more respect from his teammates by being able to play with one arm.”
It was a debut season in Dodger Blue that probably shattered even the wildest expectations.
But Ohtani has a way of living up to the hype around him like no other athlete apart from NBA star LeBron James, who also plays in LA, with the Lakers. Like James, Ohtani was heralded as a phenom and a once-in-a-lifetime superstar athlete who would soar to the top of his sport and lead his team to championships.
James needed nine seasons to win his first title, which came with the Miami Heat in 2012, two seasons after he left the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent. Ohtani won in Year 7.
James kept winning titles — he has four now — and Ohtani is set up to do the same.
“When you sign Ohtani, you’re looking at multiple,” MLB Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz said on Fox’s World Series broadcast in the United States. “They got one on his first year of his contract.”
The Dodgers figure to be even better in 2025 and are the bookmakers’ favorite to repeat as champions.
One reason is that the club will add a superstar pitcher named Shohei Ohtani to the mix.
Ohtani, who has a career 3.01 ERA and 3.30 fielding independent pitching in 481⅔ career innings, expects to be ready to pitch next season and return to the two-way role that made him a superstar.
He won two American League MVP awards with the Angels as a two-way star and is on track to return to the height of his powers for the Dodgers in 2025.
Los Angeles’ battered starting pitching rotation should also get several other injured players back, including Tyler Glasnow. Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was in his first MLB season in 2024 and won Game 2 of the World Series, will be returning with a year of experience and a playoff run under his belt.
There are moving pieces every offseason, but the Dodgers’ front office is one of the best in baseball, and the deep-pocketed franchise has the resources to keep building.
“I think we have the best organization in baseball with consistency, but you've still got to go out there and play the schedule,” Roberts said. “We have great ownership, great front office, and we've got great coaches and great players. We've still got to perform, but I think that we're on our way.”
Ohtani did not limit himself to one championship on that list he wrote all those years ago. That means MLB is officially on notice that the sport’s once-in-a-lifetime talent has a lot more winning to do.
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