The spotlight will be on slugger Shohei Ohtani this week when the superstar returns to Japan and leads the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of the Major League Baseball season at the Tokyo Dome.

The response to Shohei Ohtani at the Tokyo Dome Friday re-established a longstanding truth about the Dodgers: In Japan’s view, there is Ohtani and then there is everyone else.

Shohei Ohtani took the field at the Tokyo Dome to the roar of applause as a brief snippet of his walk-up song, "The Show Goes On" by Lupe Fiasco, played in the background. Never mind that Friday was just a workout day -- the excitement was real,