Since he first picked up a baseball, Shohei Ohtani has competed on many of the sport’s biggest stages.

He played in national tournaments at the Little League and Senior League levels, appeared in both the Spring Koshien and Summer Koshien tournaments in high school, and later competed for championships during his time with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Yet despite all those opportunities, he experienced being crowned Japan’s best only once—with the Fighters in his fourth professional season.

He also represented Japan in the Premier12 tournament but fell short of a championship there as well.

Then came six years with the Los Angeles Angels, where he never even reached the postseason, let alone the World Series.

For a player of Ohtani’s extraordinary ability, championships often remained frustratingly out of reach.

That is why Japan’s victory at the 2023 World Baseball Classic was such a meaningful moment. It gave Ohtani the chance to stand atop the baseball world while representing his country.

Yet the World Series championship he won with the Dodgers in 2024 carried a different kind of meaning.

As Ohtani explained, after seven seasons in Major League Baseball, he finally felt he had reached the summit he had been pursuing all along.

The difference, he said, was in the journey.

The World Baseball Classic is a short tournament played by a team assembled for a brief period of time, united by the goal of representing a nation.

The World Series, by contrast, is the culmination of a grueling 162-game season. It is earned through months of daily work, shared struggles, and countless battles alongside the same teammates.

Reflecting on the two championships, Ohtani said:

“Both were incredible sights, but they were completely different.”

Both titles represented being number one in the world.

Both created unforgettable memories.

But the World Series was the reward for seven years of perseverance in the major leagues, years filled with injuries, disappointments, and seasons that ended before October ever arrived.

For Ohtani, that long-awaited achievement may have made the view from the top feel even more special.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

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