In February 2024, Shohei Ohtani announced his marriage to Mamiko Tanaka through Instagram.

Because there had never been even a serious rumor about his private life before then, the news shocked baseball insiders, the media, and fans alike.

It was, of course, wonderful news.

At the same time, however, some people immediately voiced unnecessary concerns such as:

“If his performance drops now, people will blame his wife.”

Ohtani himself paid no attention to that kind of thinking.

When asked about married life, he explained his perspective very clearly:

“When you play baseball, there are times when you can’t hit or can’t get outs on the mound. But if that happens, it simply means I wasn’t good enough. There’s no reason to blame private life for that. Those are completely separate things.”

For Ohtani, marriage and baseball performance had nothing to do with each other.

Whether he succeeded or failed on the field depended entirely on his own skill and preparation.

At the same time, however, that was exactly why marriage held meaning for him.

“Getting married has positives, not negatives. It gives you more joy in life. Life doesn’t always go smoothly, and even during those times, it’s better to have something that brings you joy. I think that kind of fulfillment is a positive.”

Those words reflected a side of Ohtani that people do not always notice.

He is relentlessly focused on baseball, but he also understands that life is larger than the game itself.

Having emotional fulfillment away from the field does not weaken his competitiveness — in his view, it strengthens it.

And true to his words, after finding a new source of happiness in life, Ohtani went on to produce one of the greatest seasons in Major League Baseball history.

Source

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

Baseball Youth II: MLB Years 2018–2024 — Shohei Ohtani Long Interview