Shohei Ohtani Tokyo Series home run caps off the week of Ohtani

TOKYO — The entire week was a buildup to this.Whether the ball struck by Shohei Ohtani would have cleared the right-field wall at the Tokyo Dome if some fans hadn’t reached over the railing is immaterial. In baseball, results are marked in absolute terms, and the official record will forever show that Ohtani homered in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.“I’m relieved that one got out somehow,” Ohtani said in Japanese.Because Ohtani knew.He knew why 42,367 fans packed the Tokyo Dome on this night, and why many of them paid extraordinary prices for