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By Tyler Erzberger
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There's not a hotter ticket in March than a Samurai Japan game in their home country for the World Baseball Classic.
The tournament doesn't officially start until tomorrow, when Australia and Czechia kick off in Tokyo, but even exhibition tickets are selling for outrageous prices.
The Japanese team is looking to go back-to-back in the WBC and win their fourth title in what has become the most prestigious global event in baseball, and they're being led by the face of baseball as a whole in Shohei Ohtani.
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Although Ohtani was already a megastar when he led Japan to the championship three years ago against the United States of America in the final, he's become an even bigger name since then. Since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, he's won the last two National League MVPs and World Series trophies, doing it alongside friend and Samurai Japan teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Be it on the mound, in the batter's box, or even stretching in the outfield, every flinch of his body attracts fans to pull out their phones to take a photo.
A new photo from Ohtani's warm-ups for an exhibition game has gone viral, and not for positive reasons.
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In the photo, a line of spectators has their phones and cameras out, blocking the view of everyone in front of them to get pictures of Ohtani.
The Japanese fans on social media are arguing that if you're only there to support Ohtani and no one else, you shouldn't be taking a scarce ticket to watch the Samurai Japan play.
“I was just reading the article, so I figured it wasn’t a big deal," posted a Japanese fan. "But this is gross.”
"I heard some people showed up solely to take photos of Ohtani," said another fan.
After Ohtani had an uneventful day at the plate against the NPB side, the Orix Buffaloes, some Japanese fans were even inwardly happy that the Ohtani-only fans didn't receive the show they wanted.
“When Ohtani was pulled after two hitless at-bats, I couldn’t help but think, ‘There goes [their] ticket money,’” they wrote on X. “I know that sounds petty.”
Ohtani and Samurai Japan will open their quest for a repeat WBC title on March 6 in the Tokyo Dome against Chinese Taipei.
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