Dodgers celebrity Shohei Ohtani shocked most everybody when he introduced Feb. 29 on Instagram that he had gotten married.
He offered no different particulars, not even his spouse’s identify, on social media and when he spoke to reporters later that day at spring coaching in Phoenix.
“She’s a standard Japanese girl,” he stated on the time.
Learn extra: Hernández: How Japanese tradition formed Shohei Ohtani’s marriage announcement
The most important trace of her identification arrived Thursday morning because the Dodgers ready to go away for his or her season-opening sequence in opposition to the San Diego Padres in Seoul subsequent week. Ohtani posted a bunch picture on his Instagram tales that featured him and a girl standing collectively. A number of media shops recognized the lady as Japanese basketball participant Mamiko Tanaka, and CNN reported that the Dodgers had confirmed she was his spouse.
The Dodgers didn’t reply to questions from The Instances for this text.
Ohtani was requested throughout his first information convention in South Korea on Saturday what he preferred most about his spouse. He laughed and responded through translator, “I’ve one job to give attention to and it is baseball.”
Tanaka’s former basketball group offered the clearest affirmation the lady accompanying Ohtani on the flight to Seoul was his spouse.
The 5-foot-11 Tanaka, 27, performed energy ahead/heart for the Fujitsu Purple Wave within the Girls’s Japan Basketball League for 4 seasons, from 2019-23. She had her greatest season in 2022-23, with profession highs in video games performed (28), minutes per recreation (24), factors per recreation (7.8) and rebounds per recreation (6).
She additionally represented Japan on the 2012 FIBA U17 world championships and attended Tokyo’s Waseda College.
Fujitsu, the dad or mum firm of her former group, launched this assertion in Japanese that learn: “We want to rejoice from the underside of our hearts the brand new journey embarked by Mamiko Tanaka, who offered pleasure to many individuals by means of her performances with the Fujitsu Purple Wave. We pray this new stage of life can be great for the 2 of them.”
The information that Tanaka was the thriller girl who married Ohtani was a significant story amongst Japanese and Korean media shops.
Learn extra: Inside Shohei Ohtani’s baseball journey
At spring coaching on Feb. 29, Ohtani instructed reporters that he and his new spouse had identified one another for 3 to 4 years and have become engaged final yr. He additionally stated she was with him for spring coaching in Arizona this yr.
Ohtani stated he had delayed saying the replace to his marital standing due to undisclosed paperwork points however was positive to relay the large information earlier than the beginning of the season to keep away from any distractions.
Columnist Dylan Hernández contributed to this report.
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Instances.