Shohei Ohtani is pulling a Pat Riley as his team kicks off the season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers opened up the season on Thursday with a home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Alden Gonzalez of ESPN revealed before the game that the Dodgers superstar Ohtani had gifts waiting for all of his teammates at their lockers when they arrived for the contest.
Ohtani reportedly got each of his teammates a $4,000 Seiko watch. Each watch also came with a note from Ohtani containing a notable two-word message — “Let’s three-peat.”
The Dodgers are the back-to-back reigning World Series champions. Now they have a chance to make it three championships in a row this season, which has not been done in Major League Baseball since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.
Ohtani, 31, is also the two-time reigning National League MVP. This year will be unique for Ohtani as well in that it is the first time in his Dodgers career that he is healthy as a pitcher for Opening Day.
The Dodgers’ chances for a three-peat are looking strong, especially since they added Kyle Tucker (right field) and Edwin Diaz (bullpen) over the offseason to shore up their biggest areas of weakness. Meanwhile, the team is also getting a notable name change to their home stadium for 2026 as well.
