Japanese ace Imai wants to 'take down' Dodgers. Could he do it with SF Giants?

""Tatsuya Imai has no intention of joining them in Los Angeles. He doesn't want to join the Dodgers' dynasty. He wants to destroy it. "Of course, I'd enjoy playing alongside Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki, but winning against a team like that and becoming a world champion would be the most valuable thing in my life," Imai told former major-leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka on the show "Hodo Station." "If anything, I'd rather take them down.""

""If there were another Japanese player on the same team, I could just ask them about anything, right? But that's actually not what I'm looking for," Imai continued. "In a way, I want to experience that sense of survival. When I come face-to-face with cultural differences, I want to see how I can overcome them on my own - that's part of what I'm excited about.""

The Los Angeles Dodgers currently feature elite Japanese pitchers Shohei Ohtani (three-time MVP), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (recent World Series MVP), and Roki Sasaki. Tatsuya Imai rejects joining that Dodgers dynasty and says he would rather beat and dismantle such a team than play alongside its stars. Imai seeks to test himself independently, embracing cultural differences and a sense of survival without relying on compatriots. He was posted by the Seibu Lions on Nov. 10 with an MLB negotiating window through Jan. 2 and is expected to command a long-term, nine-figure contract. Early career struggles included a 4.29 ERA and high walk rate, but from 2022–25 he posted a 2.21 ERA over 529 2/3 innings with 556 strikeouts.

Read at The Mercury News