When LeBron James spoke publicly for the first time as a Laker, he attracted a crowd that looked as if it was half the size of this. Shohei Ohtani's introductory news conference on Thursday was unprecedented in scale, with more than 300 journalists packed shoulder to shoulder in Dodger Stadium's center-field plaza. There are instances that fundamentally transform a franchise, and this was one of them. Similar to how the Dodgers were redefined by the emergence of Fernando Valenzuela and similar to how they established a new identity by trading for Adrian Gonzalez, they entered a new era when they officially signed the 29-year-old Ohtani this week.
Instead of a small handful of reporters covering their midweek game in Pittsburgh, there will be 30, 40, maybe even 50, most of them from Japan. Essentially, each of their 162 regular-season games will be covered as if it's a postseason contest. Some players won't mind the change, and the more colorful personalities on the team might even welcome it. They signed up for this when they became professional athletes. Most of them understand that part of their jobs is to sell their sport by talking about it. However, a mild nuisance could become a major problem if a player refuses to shoulder his share of the burden day after day after day after day.
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