Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was born in Japan, and Shohei Ohtani and the four other Japanese players will compete at home for the Dodgers and Cubs.

Hundreds of fans at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, who lined up 10 deep and hoped to catch a glimpse of Shohei Ohtani as he arrived on Thursday, saw nothing of the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar.

The spotlight will be on slugger Shohei Ohtani this week when the superstar returns to Japan and leads the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the

Baseball mania reached fever pitch in Japan on Friday with public appearances of national hero Shohei Ohtani and other Japanese players set to take part in MLB season-opening games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

The Dodgers don’t start the season until next week, but fans are already showing up in Tokyo. Thousands came to the Tokyo Dome to watch the team’s first practice. Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times.

Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Shohei Ohtani as he arrived in Tokyo are left disappointed :: Instead of players from the LA Dodgers, fans saw a long white partition :: Tokyo, Japan:: March 13, 2025:: Yukiko Nakamura,