And yet, even out of the relative few people who were able to obtain tickets, a non-zero amount of them woke up, dressed as Shohei Ohtani's dog, then went about their business. They brushed their teeth, pulled on a white t-shirt, then tugged on their dog masks down to their neck.

Cubs batting practice is well attended. But the Dodgers batting practice is a spectacle with hundreds of photographers, reporters and video journalists staking out Ohtani and his two Japanese teammates — pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.

The baseball-mad country of Japan greeted perhaps the brightest star it has ever produced with silence. When Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box to open Major League Baseball’s season against his fellow countryman,