Dodgers, Who Respected 'Asian Baseball,' Set to Reclaim WS Title After Two Consecutive Appearances?

MLB.com: "Dodgers Have Been Interacting with Asian Baseball Since the 1960s"

Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, Kim Ha-seong, etc. "There's a Reason Why Top Players Flock Here."

Asian players playing for the Dodgers, from left: Sasaki Roki, Ohtani Shohei, Kim Ha-seong, Yamamoto Yoshinobu [AFP=Yonhap News]

"We don't need him!"

Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the 25th (Korean time), during Game 1 of the World Series (best-of-seven) between Major League Baseball's (MLB) Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

As Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani stepped up to the plate, the Toronto home crowd erupted in unison with these chants.

Toronto had made significant efforts to sign Ohtani, who was the biggest free agent prize in December 2023. They courted him with numerous gifts, including dog clothing.

However, Ohtani chose the Dodgers, leaving a deep wound not only for the Blue Jays organization but also for their fans.

Conversely, after successfully acquiring Ohtani, the Dodgers went on to attract other prominent Asian players, including Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, closer Roki Sasaki, and South Korea's Ha-seong Kim.

And the performance of these Asian players has become the foundation for their consecutive World Series appearances.

Ohtani, a two-way player, recorded a .282 batting average, 56 home runs, and 102 RBIs as a hitter in the regular season this year, while pitching 14 games with a 1-1 record and a 2.87 ERA.

Yamamoto continued his stellar pitching, including a complete-game win in Game 2 of the World Series. Sasaki has reliably closed out games since being named the postseason closer.

Although Kim Ha-seong has seen limited action in the postseason, he has contributed as an all-around utility player since the regular season.

MLB.com believes there is a special reason behind Ohtani's choice of the Dodgers, seeing him as the starting point of this "Asian Power."

They analyze that the Dodgers' philosophy of pioneering the Asian market played a decisive role.

Ohtani (left) and Kim Ha-seong high-fiving [AFP=Yonhap News]

In a related article on the 27th, MLB.com explained, "The reason the Dodgers have been able to maintain their status as a strong team for so long is hidden in their long-standing efforts to pioneer the Asian market. By breaking down barriers of race and nationality, the Dodgers are now challenging for a second consecutive World Series title with Asian players leading the way."

According to the outlet, the Dodgers created a link between American and Japanese baseball by hiring Akihiro Ikuhara, a special assistant from Japan, in the 1960s, a time when no one paid attention to Asian baseball.

In the 1990s, they signed Japan's Hideo Nomo and South Korea's Chan Ho Park, and in the 2000s, they were the first to organize an 'Asian scouting team' to recruit players.

They operated the Asian scouting team by hiring country-specific scouts such as Scott Akasaki for Japan, Curtis Chung for Korea, and Vincent Rau for Taiwan.

Then-Dodgers General Manager Dan Evans stated, "I persuaded the management at the time that we shouldn't rely solely on the free agency market and the draft." He added, "Every day when I came to work, I received analysis reports on all the games played in Japan the previous day."

MLB.com reported, "The Dodgers had as many as four full-time scouts dedicated to Asia at the time. This was when very few teams, apart from the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees, consistently sent scouts to observe Asian baseball."

Cheering Ohtani (behind) and Kim Ha-seong [AFP=Yonhap News]

The Dodgers genuinely treated Asian baseball with respect.

MLB.com explained, "When the late special assistant Ikuhara was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, former GM Evans personally attended the ceremony. When scouts from Korea or Japan visited Los Angeles, they were treated with the same care and respect as officials from other MLB teams."

Former GM Evans said, "We thought of MLB as having 50 teams, not just 30." He also revealed, "We even prepared documents in Korean and Japanese."

Excellent players from Asia began to flock to the Dodgers.

MLB.com also reported, "The Dodgers were in negotiations to sign Lee Seung-yeop, a slugger from the KBO League, in 2003. Lee Seung-yeop intended to sign after seeing the Dodgers' infrastructure, but unfortunately, it did not materialize."

Since then, the Dodgers have consistently pursued Asian player acquisitions. In Korea, Hyun-jin Ryu played a significant role in a Dodgers uniform.

By hiring a large number of Asian front office staff who spoke Korean and Japanese, the Dodgers maintained an environment where Asian players could play comfortably for a long time.

MLB.com explained, "There's a reason why good Asian players are drawn to the Dodgers."

The Dodgers also provide immense hope to aspiring Asian prospects.

Akasaki, a former Dodgers Asian scout, commented, "In the past, Asian role models in MLB were rare." He highly praised Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo as "true pioneers, much like Tiger Woods (golf), Michael Chang (tennis), and Yao Ming (basketball)."

He continued, "Now, you can easily turn on the TV and see Asians performing at the highest level. Asian players will no longer feel like outsiders." Yonhap News