In 2018, a young man named Shohei Ohtani burst into the spotlight of Major League Baseball, and boy did he put on a show. He has won a World Series, three MVPS, three Silver Slugger awards, Rookie of the Year 2018, made the First Team All-MLB team four times and second team twice, and he has led the MLB in home runs in 2023 and 2024.
When I saw the “Shohei Ohtani Beyond The Dream” documentrary on Disney+, I worried it would be another Disney flop. Fortunately, this documentary knocked my expectations out of the park. Released in 2023, this is a great documentary that takes us through Ohtani’s life playing baseball in Japan through high school, how he got to Major League Baseball, signed with the Los Angeles Angels and how he has made an impact on baseball as a whole.
The biography begins with footage of Ohtani pitching and batting narrated by former MLB pitcher and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. Former World Series Champion Hideki Matsui is the narrator for the Japanese version, as there is a Japanese dub of the movie for audiences in his home country.
We get to see a view of Ohtani’s hometown Mizusawa in the countryside of northern Japan. Ohtani talks about how it has been his dream since childhood to make it to the major leagues and worked towards it all his life. This is accompanied by clips of former MLB players that he admired growing up such as Matsui and Martinez. He also talks about how he needed to become a two-way player like Babe Ruth, who excelled at both pitching and batting, a rare talent in the sport.
Ohtani’s journey is inspiring and powerful to anyone who aspires to be a baseball player. Photos of Ohtani when he was younger, and side-by-side B-roll of Ohtani pitching next to Martinez were touching highlights.
Another shot I liked is the drone footage they used of Ohtani’s elementary, middle and high school as well as parts of Japan. I thought it was cool for the editor to include drone shots because it made it more interesting than if it was just “normal” biography footage. Another thing I liked is hearing from Former MLB pitchers Martinez, Matsui and CC Sabathia on how amazed they were at Ohtani’s dedication to achieve his goal despite how many obstacles he faced.
The biography includes interviews of Ohtahi’s coach Hideki Kuriyama who coached him from 2013-2017. Kuriyama explained that Shohei was a huge impact on the team when they scouted him as a pitcher and hitter for the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Ohtani also explains how at first there was tension between him and current MLB Pitcher Yu Darvish for the honor of being number 11 on the team. Some argued that Ohtani didn’t earn the right to wear number 11, but the two settled their differences and Darvish wanted to see the potential Ohtani had.
When Ohtani was trying to get into the MLB, many teams were skeptical about his ability to both hit and pitch. But he proved them wrong and has become a successful two way player. I liked the scene where Ohtani also talked about his journey while in his Angels uniform. Ohtani reflected on his past experiences in signing with The Los Angeles Angels.
Another part I liked was to hear from manager Mike Scioscia and Joe Maddon, two of the four Angels managers during Ohtani’s tenure. It was inspiring to hear how they tried to help Ohtani in his dream to become the best player in Major League Baseball. However, it would have been nice to also hear from Brad Ausmus who managed in 2019, and Phil Nevin who managed from 2022-2023. Both Ausmus and Nevin knew Ohtani personally.
The other thing I wished they would have done in the biography is they would have included some of Ohtani’s teammates from his tenure with the Los Angeles Angels such as Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Kole Calhoun, David Fletcher, Taylor Ward, Andrew Heaney, Raisel Iglesias and countless others. I think it would have been better if some of his teammates were included in the biography and not just the managers.
The biography is directed by Toru Tokikawa along with Min Hye Kim and Tao Tokikawa for the writing credits. I gotta say they did a really good job with the script writing and adding some drone shots along with the biography. While they did get some interviews, I wished they would have included some of Ohtani’s teammates from his Angels tenure. One thing I think Toru did a really good job with is the dramatic ending. In the final scene, Maddon, Scioscia, Matsui, Darvish, Martinez and Sabathia all thank Ohtani as he walks out to play for the Angels.
Since this biography was released, Ohtani has signed a 10-year $700 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won a World Series in 2024 and won his 3rd MVP. Overall, I really hope we can see another biography down the line that recounts his experience playing with the Dodgers.
I also hope this opens the door for more biographies about MLB superstars. Whether it’s retired ones such as Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Frank Thomas, Jimmy Rollins and Derek Lee, or current stars such as Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Paul Skenes, it would be great to see more biographies about these stars that inspired us. Baseball fans, I think this is a story for the century.
