Not much is known about the personal life of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, and that is by design. However, Ohtani felt compelled to let the world in on the fact that he is a married man.
Ohtani’s revelation on Instagram shocked current and former teammates, and made global headlines.
The announcement came months after Ohtani signed with the Dodgers as one of the most high-profile free agents in recent MLB history. His 10-year, $700 million contract is the largest in professional sports history, and it allowed for Ohtani to remain in Southern California by just needing to make the move from Anaheim to Los Angeles.
There were various factors Ohtani took into consideration before making his monumental decision to choose the Dodgers over the likes of the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels. However, his personal life and relationships were not among those factors.
“That had absolutely nothing to do with free agency. She has a great understanding of my profession and she’s willing to be wherever I want to play at. Ultimately, it was up to me. So it had nothing to do with it,” Ohtani recently said.
As for choosing to reveal his marriage, Ohtani explained it was in effort to avoid becoming a distraction during the regular season. His intentions wound up being all for naught as former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity led to getting fired by the Dodgers and placing him and Ohtani under investigation.
Who did Shohei Ohtani marry?
Despite Ohtani describing his wife as an ordinary citizen, her identity later was revealed to be Mamiko Tanaka.
Tanaka achieved her own level of fame by starting her basketball career at Waseeda University in 2018. Then as a member of the Fujitsu Red Wave of the Women’s Japan Basketball League, she played from 2019 to 2023, ultimately retiring this past year.
Tanaka was with Ohtani for Dodgers Spring Training and accompanied him to South Korea for the Seoul Series.
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