Not just Ohtani: Tokyo Series will showcase the depth of Japanese talent in Major League Baseball

TOKYO (AP) — The spotlight will be on slugger Shohei Ohtani this week when the superstar returns to Japan and leads the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of the Major League Baseball season at the Tokyo Dome.

He won't be the only one playing in front of his home country.

Four other Japanese players — LA's Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, along with Chicago's Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga — will be on the field in a display of how deep the talent pool is in the country.

The outsized attention on Ohtani is understandable: He's coming off one of the best seasons in MLB history and won his third MVP award after becoming the first player to hit at least 50 homers and steal at least 50 bases in the same season.

Ohtani had offseason surgery on his left shoulder following the World Series but is expected to start at designated hitter for the Dodgers in Japan after hitting .353 with two doubles and a homer in spring training.

The other four Japanese players are all accomplished in their own right. Here's a look at each player as the opener approaches on March 18.

Yamamoto came to the Dodgers before last season, signing a $325 million, 12-year deal that was somewhat overshadowed by Ohtani's monster $700 million, 10-year deal.

When healthy, Yamamoto was very good in his first big league season, finishing with a 7-2 record, a 3.00 ERA and 105 strikeouts over 90 innings. He was also solid in the postseason with a 2-0 record and a 3.86 ERA.

Yamamoto missed about three months last season with a shoulder injury. The 26-year-old has been healthy so far this spring and will be the starting pitcher for the season opener on Tuesday.

He played seven seasons for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan before coming to the U.S., where he had a 70-29 record along with a miniscule 1.82 ERA.

The 30-year-old Suzuki has been an important part of the Cubs lineup for the past three seasons. He just finished his best season in the big leagues, batting .283 with 21 homers, 73 RBIs, 16 stolen bases and 27 doubles.

Suzuki has played most of his games in right field for the Cubs, but is just an average fielder. Manager Craig Counsell says Suzuki might be utilized more as a designated hitter this season after the addition of All-Star Kyle Tucker, who the team acquired in a trade with the Houston Astros.

He played nine seasons for the Hiroshima Carp before signing with the Cubs, batting .309 with 189 career homers.

Sasaki is the youngest of the Japanese players in Tokyo for this week's series at 23 years old.

This is the lanky 6-foot-2 right-hander's first season in the U.S. after playing four seasons for the Chiba Lotte Mariners, where he had an overpowering fastball that could touch 100 mph. He's dealt with injuries over the past few years, which has limited his time on the mound.

Even so, Sasaki was electric in his spring training debut earlier this month, striking out five over three scoreless innings. His fastball was clocked in the high 90s and he has a devastating splitter that coaxes plenty of swing-and-miss.

Sasaki signed a minor league contract that had a signing bonus of $6.5 million, though he's expected to be on the big league roster. Because he’s under 25 and did not have six years of service time in Japan, Sasaki was considered an international amateur by MLB’s rules and was limited to a minor league deal with a limited signing bonus.

The 31-year-old Imanaga made an immediate impact last season with the Cubs, making the National League All-Star team and finishing with a 15-3 record and 2.91 ERA. He's expected to be the team's ace in 2025 and will pitch against Yamamoto in the first game in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Imanaga doesn't have an overpowering fastball, with the pitch usually sitting in the low 90s, but the left-hander has a quality splitter and mixes his pitches well. Before coming to the U.S., he pitched eight seasons for the Yokohoma BayStars and was 64-50 with a 3.18 ERA.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) throws during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Tuesday, March. 4, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Chicago Cubs left fielder Seiya Suzuki, of Japan, jogs off the field during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, March 3, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Chicago Cubs' Seiya Suzuki, of Japan, pauses in the dugout prior to a spring training baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, March 3, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) rests in the dugout between the fifth and sixth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Tuesday, March. 4, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) throws during the sixth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Tuesday, March. 4, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) throws during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Tuesday, March. 4, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a GOP-backed bill Thursday to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities, declaring that diversity should be embraced as a strength while branding the legislation as being “about hate.”

Beshear, who is seen as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, announced his veto in a social media video. His forceful defense of diversity initiatives comes as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I believe in the Golden Rule that says we love our neighbor as ourself, and there are no exceptions, no asterisks,” Beshear said. "We love and we accept everyone. This bill isn’t about love. House Bill 4 is about hate. So I’m gonna try a little act of love myself, and I’m gonna veto it right now.”

In his formal veto message, the governor bluntly said the bill might someday be seen as part of an “anti-civil rights” movement.

The anti-DEI legislation cleared both legislative chambers by lopsided margins. Kentucky's Republican supermajority legislature will have a chance to override Beshear's veto when lawmakers reconvene in late March for the final two days of this year's 30-day session. Throughout Beshear's tenure as governor, GOP lawmakers have, with gusto, routinely swept aside his vetoes to push their policies into law.

Republican state Rep. Josh Calloway denounced Beshear's veto on the social media platform X, calling it “nothing but political theater, and the people of Kentucky see right through it. DEI (Division, Exclusion, Indoctrination) must DIE in KY.”

The measure's lead sponsor, GOP state Rep. Jennifer Decker, said at a recent committee hearing that “DEI bureaucracy” had made college "more divided, more expensive and less tolerant.”

“Taxpayers should not fund such practices, however well-intended," she said. "Historically, America has striven for equal opportunity, not subjective equity, which DEI now pursues through discriminatory missions, hirings and scholarships.”

Kentucky Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal commended Beshear for the veto, saying the bill would "do nothing to improve education in this state, but would instead send a harmful message that diversity is something to be feared rather than embraced.”

The measure Beshear rejected would require Kentucky's public universities and community and technical colleges to defund DEI initiatives. It also would require the schools to eliminate DEI offices and prohibit them from requiring students or staff to attend DEI training sessions.

“I’ll always believe that diversity is a strength and never a weakness,” Beshear said in the video from his office at the Kentucky Capitol. “That we are better with more voices and more seats at our table.”

More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump’s campaign to end DEI programs, which his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

The U.S. Education Department recently announced the new investigations, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at eliminating the U.S. Education Department, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency blasted by conservatives as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. Beshear has criticized efforts to mothball the agency.

The term-limited Kentucky governor recently participated in a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Last year, Beshear condemned efforts to limit DEI practices at public universities after marching with other Kentuckians to commemorate the 60th anniversary of a civil rights rally that featured Martin Luther King Jr. in the state’s capital city of Frankfort. Anti-DEI legislation died last year in Kentucky amid a House-Senate impasse in what was a rare temporary setback on a priority, hot-button issue.

“DEI is not a four-letter word,” Beshear said at the time. “DEI is a three-letter acronym for very important values that are found in our Bible. Diversity, equity and inclusion is about loving each other. It’s about living out the Golden Rule. ... Diversity will always make us stronger.”

FILE - Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear sits for an interview in Versailles, Ky., May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)