Shohei Ohtani marriage: Japanese phenom makes plea for limited media interaction, requests them to refrain from 'unauthorized interviews'

Shohei Ohtani has been the source of headlines for the entire MLB offseason and the LA Dodgers' two-way phenom took to Instagram on Thursday to announce he is married.

This was certainly big news and Ohtani asked people to refrain from “conducting unauthorized interviews” and for privacy. His wife remains anonymous for now, but the superstar mentioned that she is Japanese and he will disclose more in an interview on Friday, March 1.

He captioned his IG post:

"To all my friends and fans throughout, I have an announcement to make:

"Not only have I began a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers but I also have began a new life with someone from my Native country of Japan who is very special to me and I wanted everyone to know I am now married.

"I am excited for what is come and thank you for your support."

Shohei Ohtani shines in Dodgers Spring Training debut

Shohei Ohtani made his highly-anticipated LA Dodgers debut against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. Ohtani gave the people what they wanted, putting on a show with a two-run homer. The Dodgers came away with a 9-6 win and Ohtani looked like his recovery from elbow surgery is indeed going well.

Ohtani is not expected to pitch until 2025 due to the surgery, and Dodgers fans will be relieved to see he can still contribute with the bat in the meantime.

While Ohtani did not feature in the Dodgers' 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, he will likely play a limited role in some of the games ahead. LA has the Cincinnati Reds next, on Thursday at 8.05 p.m. ET, and will be looking to get back to winning ways.

Given the number of new faces in LA this season, Spring Training should see a lot of rotation as players need to gel. One such player is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was near-perfect on his debut against the Rangers. Yamamoto threw 19 pitches, amply displaying his arsenal, 16 of which went for strikes.

The future certainly looks bright for Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers, and it will be interesting to see if they can live up to the hype in 2024.