Dodgers Interview: Shohei talks Decoy, fatherhood, and the Dodgers’ spending spree

LOS ANGELES — The notoriously private Shohei Ohtani is letting the public into his world a little bit this week, all for a good cause. And we are here for it.

That’s basically the vibe of his NBC News sit-down, where the conversation jumped from back-to-back titles to the kind of off-field milestone that feels even more personal: Ohtani’s new children’s book starring Decoy, the pup who’s become a full-on Dodger celebrity.

When he was asked what it was like to win back-to-back World Series titles, Ohtani didn’t pretend it was easy. Speaking through translator Will Ireton, he said that the second championship “was a lot harder,” with “a lot more pressure that was put on the team,” and but added that “It was a very, very special year.”

The interview also touched on the idea everyone in Los Angeles has been thinking about, whether we say it out loud or not: a three-peat. Ohtani’s answer sounded like the mindset you’d want from the star at the center of the whole thing. “I don’t think about it too much,” he said, but he also admitted he’d love the kind of career memory that lasts forever. If, one day, he can retire and look back and say, “Hey, I was on that team that won 3 championships in a row,” he said, “that would be very cool.”

Then NBC asked him something that gets tossed around every time the Dodgers do Dodgers things: the payroll, the spending, the whole “is this good for the game?” debate. Ohtani didn’t dodge it. He credited the ownership group and pointed the camera right back toward the people in the seats. “I think with what the ownership group has done has been great,” he said, because “the fans pay money, they “buy tickets,” and they come to the game.” In his view, that money is getting put to work to give the paying customers at the Ravine what they’ve come to expect. A winner. They “sign these great players” he said, “and put out a winning product on the field.”

But the heart of the interview, and the part Dodgers fans are going to replay with a grin, was Ohtani talking about why he wanted to write a kids’ book in the first place.

He explained that the timing lined up with something big in his life. “The initial idea was basically I had my daughter coming soon (she was born in April 2025),” he said, and it felt like “a nice time” to create something he could share with her. The way he put it was simple and sweet: he wanted to “be able to read her a book about my story as well as our dog Decoy’s story.”

And if you’ve ever wondered how Decoy became Decoy, Ohtani gave a little origin story too. He attributes it to instant chemistry. Growing up in Japan, he said, “I had a dog myself. So when I came to the U.S., I wanted a dog. I met Decoy and we hit it off.”

Decoy, a Kooikerhondje, has been at Shohei’s side for some of his most important moments, including the announcement of his MVP trophies. And while Shohei now has his wife Mamiko and young daughter, it’s Decoy that the public is fascinated by.

The best moment, though, came when the interviewer jokingly asked if Decoy needs an agent. Ohtani started with the serious part first. “All of the proceeds for these books are gonna go to animal shelters,” he said. “We’re gonna obviously donate all of the proceeds.” That’s a meaningful detail, and it fits with what we’ve already seen from Ohtani: he keeps finding ways to connect baseball fame to real-world good.

Then he flipped the tone and let the joke breathe. Now that he thought about it, he said, “maybe I should have negotiated just a little bit of amount to get Decoy some good food.” And because Ohtani can’t help himself, he punctuated it with a promise that felt like a wink to the camera: “We’ll do that next time.”

The book is out now. Baseball’s almost back. And if Decoy ends up with a “super agent” one day, at least we’ll know Ohtani already regrets not bargaining for the premium kibble.

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