Shohei Ohtani reportedly played a large role in starting pitcher Rōki Sasaki signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani was part of a contingent of

The splitter is on the rise in Major League Baseball, and the Dodgers are cornering the market. Splitters were thrown more often in 2024 than in any other season of the pitch tracking era, which goes back to 2008.

Baseball fans have the same complaint after Japanese star pitcher Rōki Sasaki signed with the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers.

Shohei Ohtani broke the news to the Los Angeles Dodgers that prized Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki was joining the team.

Starting pitcher Rōki Sasaki announced his intention to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers in an Instagram post on Friday. According to ESPN's Alden

Japanese star Roki Sasaki signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he announced on Instagram. The 23-year-old right-hander with a sizzling fastball and deadly splitter joins Samurai Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto with the World Series champion Dodgers.

Sasaki, nicknamed in Japan as "the Monster of the Reiwa Era," struck out 11 batters in 7 and ⅔ innings with a 3.52 ERA during the 2023 WBC. In Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, he struck out 129 hitters in 111 regular-season innings for the Marines in the 2024 season.

Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Dodgers released a limited number of tickets to eligible season-ticket holders for the Boys In Blue's season opener at Tokyo Dome against the Chicago Cubs for Mar. 18-19. Tickets set aside for that particular group of fans has since been sold out, but few of those seats have been listed in secondary markets.

Last December, the Dodgers' addition of Shohei Ohtani concluded one of their greatest ... a Mount Rushmore of Japanese pitching luminaries by winning the Rōki Sasaki sweepstakes. While Ohtani might not be ready to pitch at the outset of the 2025 season ...

Japanese ace Roki Sasaki made his free-agent decision on Friday ... and he'll be joining a star-studded roster that features Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, his teammates on Japan's title-winning 2023 World Baseball Classic team.

The mighty Dodgers, that Evil Empire on the West Coast, have struck again, signing Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki.

Similar to how last winter was defined by the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes ... including Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki and slugging first baseman Pete Alonso. And as Soto himself knows, after ...