The Dodgers hosted Sasaki on Jan. 14 at minority owner Peter Guber’s home in Bel Air. The lineup of Los Angeles stars in the meeting included Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Tommy Edman. All players who attended the meeting have long-term deals with the Dodgers.
However, in their meeting with Sasaki, the Dodgers had one more attendee (who was likely considered the most special). The final guest was Ohtani’s Dutch kooikerhondje, Decoy.
Decoy is a famous furry friend to the Dodgers fanbase. In August, Decoy threw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium on Ohtani’s bobblehead night. The collectible item featured Ohtani and his dog on the bobblehead.
While Decoy is a well-known figure in Los Angeles, Ohtani brought his dog along to the meeting because he knows Sasaki shares the same affinity for man’s best friend.
Sasaki is also a dog owner and they happen to share the same birthday, Nov. 3.
While Sasaki has publicly shared he chose the Dodgers “purely based on where he can grow the most,” Decoy’s presence at the meeting may have made the team’s presentation that much better.
Although Sasaki’s didn’t prioritize whether a team had Japanese players in his selection process, he expressed excitement to be reunited with WBC teammates Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Sasaki faced some criticism for making the jump to MLB before he was age eligible to sign a lucrative contract, but he believes there are no absolutes in baseball.
“You hear many voices that say I should have waited two more years [to come to the United States], but there are of course no guarantees about my condition in those two years,” Sasaki said.
“I decided the time I will spend in these two years was more valuable to me than money and stuff like that.”