Nearly a year after abruptly announcing his marriage on Instagram, Shohei Ohtani announced Saturday he and his wife Mamiko Tanaka are expecting their first child, abruptly on Instagram.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar didn’t provide any specifics about a due date or details about the upcoming child, but his post did feature yet another cute picture of his dog Dekopin.
The announcement completes quite a year or so for Ohtani. Going back to last December, he has signed a $700 million contract with the Dodgers, announced his marriage, been revealed to be the victim of a multi-million-dollar embezzlement by his close friend Ippei Mizuhara, faced federal and MLB investigations for said scandal, purchased a house, become MLB’s first 50-50 player, won a World Series, won a third MVP award and, now, announced a pregnancy. He also underwent elbow surgery at the end of last season and spent all of 2024 rehabbing the elbow while playing as a full-time DH.
For most other players, that’s enough drama and achievement for an entire career. For Ohtani, it’s just a year in the life of being MLB’s most talented, most well-paid and most internationally popular player.
Ohtani is famously private about his personal life, to the point his relationship with Tanaka, a former professional basketball player in Japan, wasn’t known until the month after he announced their marriage. So you can probably expect details about their child to be limited for a significant amount of time.
Still, between Ohtani’s unprecedented combination of size, speed and skills and Mamiko’s own athletic background, this kid will likely not be lacking for athleticism. The rest of MLB should also hope the usual dad strength bump doesn’t apply to this father.
