Shohei Ohtani's career opening game sees "this stat" surprisingly blank; tomorrow he faces the Diamondbacks at home.

Los Angeles Dodgers' Japanese "two-way" superstar Shohei Ohtani will host the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 27 (Beijing time), marking the start of his ninth MLB season. However, despite holding five MVP awards combined from Japan and the US and twice being the American League home run king, Ohtani has an unexpected record in opening games: throughout his 14-year career, he has never hit a home run in an "opening game".

According to Japanese media "Sponichi Annex", reviewing Ohtani's five years with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in NPB, although he started every opening game, in 2015 and 2016 he served as the "opening game pitcher", focusing on pitching and not stepping into the batter's box. In fact, Ohtani's hitting performance in NPB opening games was quite stable: over three games, he had 14 at-bats with 6 hits, contributing 2 RBIs, and a batting average of .428, but he never achieved the feat of "hitting a home run in an opening game".

After moving to MLB, Ohtani also played a key role in opening games, yet still couldn't send the ball over the fence. In his MLB debut against the Athletics, he had 5 at-bats with 1 hit; in 2019, he missed the start due to right elbow surgery; in 2022, he became the first player to "bat as the team's leadoff hitter while also serving as pitcher and designated hitter", but went 0-for-4 that day. Overall, Ohtani has played 8 MLB opening games, with 31 at-bats producing only 5 hits, a batting average of .161.

Tomorrow's opening game marks Ohtani's 14th year in professional baseball. With his physical condition returning to peak levels, whether this globally watched star can finally hit that long-awaited "opening game home run" in front of Dodgers home fans after 14 years is something the whole world is anticipating.