There are probably not many MLB fans who are familiar with Keito Mombetsu or Hiroto Saiki. Maybe not Teruaki Sato or Tatsuya Ishikawa either. They and their teammates on the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants were the supporting act for the MLB Tokyo Series, while Shohei Ohtani and the other Japanese stars from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs were cast in the lead roles.
The Japanese MLB stars — the Dodgers’ Ohtani, Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki — are some of the most recognizable faces in the game, or in all of sports, in Ohtani’s case.
What the four exhibition games between the MLB and NPB clubs over the weekend showed, however, is that the well of talent in Japan runs deeper than the nation’s big leaguers.
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