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Tag: Dodgers

Dodgers’ Dustin May talks about undergoing emergency surgery on esophaguc

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May was on his way back from injury, hoping to join the team to help them win a World Series in July 2024.

May, 27, was rehabbing from a flexor tendon and Tommy John revision surgery, with a chance to return late in the season.

On the night of July 10, everything changed.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May throws during a spring training workout at Camelback Ranch. (Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images)

While May was still rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility, he ordered a salad for dinner.

May took one bite, and felt lettuce stuck in his throat. He attempted to wash it down with some water, but knew something was wrong.

For 15 minutes it was “mega-painful,” May said via the LA Times, talking about the incident publicly for the first time last week. The pain was in his throat and stomach.

It turns out May had unknowingly suffered a serious tear in his esophagus. He later learned that the lettuce lodged in his throat perforated his esophagus, something that is very uncommon.

Once the pain wore off, May thought he would be fine.

“I’m not a big panicker,” he said. “It kind of chilled out. So I was like, ‘I’m fine. I don’t need to do anything.’”

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Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Dustin May warms up during spring training. (Rick Scuteri-USA Today Sports)

Millie, May’s wife, wasn’t of the same thinking as Dustin.

“No,” May recalled her saying. “We’re going to the ER to get it checked out.”

After a CT scan revealed the significance of the tear in May’s esophagus, doctors immediately rushed him into surgery.

“It was extremely frustrating. You can’t plan for it. You can’t try to prevent it. It just happened,” May said.

“It wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024.”

The surgery, which May described as “basically a full abdominal surgery,” left the pitcher with a long scar from his lower chest to his stomach.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May throws during spring training at Camelback Ranch. (Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images)

May went from being a piece of the Dodgers pitching staff down the stretch, to realizing just how fragile life is.

“It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life. Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like – it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me (a feeling) of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary,” May said.

“It was definitely a life-altering event. It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency.”

May’s Tommy John procedure was the second time he had undergone the repair of his elbow, as he underwent the surgery in 2021.

May has pitched 191.2 innings across five seasons in the big leagues. He has been effective when healthy, as he has a 3.10 ERA with 174 strikeouts when on the mound for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers’ rotation is littered with aces, making it no guarantee that May is in the starting rotation despite being healthy again.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers, from left, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Joe Kelly in the bullpen during spring training at Camelback Ranch. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA Today Sports)

Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw are among those penciled into the starting rotation.

Regardless, May is excited about finally being healthy and able to compete again.

“I’m definitely excited and definitely have a deeper appreciation for the game.”

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Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.

February 18, 2025
Yankees manager takes shot at Dodgers, alleges lack of ‘class’ with World Series title talk

If the New York Yankees played clean defense in the World Series, there is a very decent chance they could have been headed to Los Angeles with a 3-2 series lead.

But, they lost Games 1 and 5 largely in part to poor fielding, and thus, the Los Angeles Dodgers were champs, winning the Fall Classic in the Bronx.

After winning it all, many members of the Dodgers were quick to remind everyone of just how they did it – by taking advantage of the Yankees’ mistakes (and the Fat Joe curse).

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New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone speaks during a news conference during the World Series against the Dodgers, Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

It was even reported that the Dodgers studied the Yankees’ defensive and baserunning shortcomings en route to their 4-1 series victory.

Well, the Yankees have had time to dissect those comments, and with pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training on Tuesday, manager Aaron Boone was asked about the remarks.

He admitted his players took the comments personally, but the Dodgers had a right to say “whatever they want as the champion.”

New York outfielder Aaron Judge makes a fielding error in game five of the 2024 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

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“I did not like it.… I’m not gonna lie and say I liked it, and hopefully we’re in a position to be where they were. They’re the champs, and the reality is that they have the right to say whatever they want as the champion. Hopefully we’re in that position this time next year, and hopefully we handle it with a little more class,” Boone told Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay on ESPN New York radio.

He added to reporters in Tampa that the Yankees “didn’t play our best in that series, and they won.”

To make matters worse, the Yanks did lose Juan Soto to their crosstown rival Mets in free agency – although he isn’t exactly elite with the glove.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts celebrates with players and staff after winning the 2024 MLB World Series against the Yankees in New York. (Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images)

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But they pivoted quite nicely by signing Cy Young Award candidate Max Fried and 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt while trading for dominant closer Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger, who was the NL MVP of the 2019 season.

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February 11, 2025
Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter impersonated Dodgers star to push through 6-figure wire transfer, audio reveals

A four-minute audio recording was disclosed by federal prosecutors Thursday that shows Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly attempting to push through a six-figure wire transfer from one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ star’s accounts by impersonating him.

Mizuhara has been convicted of defrauding Ohtani, the National League MVP and world baseball superstar, and the recording, obtained by The Athletic from the Department of Justice, is a key piece of evidence.

It was mentioned in a court filing, which also had prosecutors recommending a nearly five-year sentence for Mizuhara and an order to repay Ohtani, according to The Athletic.

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Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty June 4, 2024, to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case and admitted stealing nearly $17 million from Shohei Ohtani. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

Mizuhara, who is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return after stealing almost $17 million from Ohtani, who he was best friends with for years, in June 2024.

The recording was obtained from a bank, assistant U.S. attorney Jeff Mitchell told The Athletic, and it supports prosecutors’ claims that Mizuhara would call banks to arrange wire transfers.

Prosecutors added that the recording was edited to redact bank names and the name of an “unindicated co-conspirator.”

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In the recording, Mizuhara clearly states his name is Ohtani after the bank agent asks, “Who am I speaking with?” Mizuhara bypassed the bank’s security measures and changed Ohtani’s account information to include his own email and phone number.

So, when the bank agent asks Mizuhara to perform a two-factor authentication using a six-digit code sent to a phone number, he can do so because it’s going to his phone instead of Ohtani’s.

The recording shows Mizuhara matching the numbers, which allows the agent to work on his request, a car loan for $200,000.

“Now recently, we’ve come across a trend of fraud and scams, so we have been monitoring the online transactions closely to make sure our clients are not the victim of either,” the agent says first. “What is the reason for this transaction?”

Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara of the Los Angeles Dodgers during a press conference at Dodger Stadium Dec. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Then, the agent asks “Ohtani” what his relationship to the payee is, to which Mizuhara says, “He’s my friend.”

“Have you met your friend in person”” the agent responds.

“Yes, many times,” Mizuhara answered.

Mizuhara said he stole from Ohtani to cover “major gambling debt,” which he said in a brief statement after pleading guilty.

“I went ahead and wired money … with his bank account,” Mizuhara said in the statement at the time.

Prosecutors asked that the restitution amount bet set at nearly $17 million for Ohtani, though it was noted Mizuhara is unable to pay that back to the All-Star. Another $1.1 million in restitution is being sought by the IRS.

Japanese interpreter Ippei Mizuhara attends a press conference at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles Dec. 14, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

The ex-interpreter’s winning bets totaled over $142 million, which he deposited into his own bank account and not Ohtani’s. His losing bets were around $183 million. He did not bet on baseball.

There is also no indication Ohtani bet on baseball.

The Athletic reported the court filing says that, between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara placed around 19,000 bets online through Matthew Bowyer, his bookie who also pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling business in August 2024.

Mizuhara’s debt was up to $40.7 million.

“His years-long theft of funds from Mr. Ohtani and the myriad lies he told to Mr. Ohtani’s agents and financial advisors to cover up his theft represent a calculated betrayal of the very person he was hired to help,” Mitchell wrote in the court filing.

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, arrives at federal court in Los Angeles June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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“To summarize how I’m feeling right now, I’m just beyond shocked,” Ohtani said in a statement on the matter last year. “It’s really hard to verbalize how I’m feeling at this point.

“I’m very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.”

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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.

January 24, 2025
Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki says he wants to try an ‘American hamburger’ after signing with the Dodgers

Now that Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki has officially signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he is ready to enjoy some American food.

“I haven’t tried any American hamburgers, so I’m really looking forward to eating the best,” Sasaki said through an interpreter during an interview with SportsNetLA.

Sasaki, 23, signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent, meaning that he is under team control for six seasons. Sasaki was also given a $6.5 million signing bonus.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) speaks during an introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)

With the signing bonus, Sasaki can try as many hamburgers as he wants.

Sasaki dominated Nippon Professional Baseball, recording a 2.10 ERA across four seasons with a whopping 505 strikeouts in 394 2/3 innings.

Sasaki was highly coveted across Major League Baseball once his bidding period opened up, but chose the reigning World Series champions as his next team.

It is the second straight season that the Dodgers have signed a free agent pitcher from Japan, as they handed Yoshinobu Yamamoto the largest guaranteed contract for a pitcher in MLB history last offseason.

Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million deal and delivered in year one with a 7-2 record and 3.00 ERA over 18 regular season starts and 90 innings pitched.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) is photographed by media during an introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)

If Sasaki had waited two years until he turned 25, he could have hit the free agent market and signed an exorbitant deal like Yamamoto, but Sasaki wanted to play in the big leagues sooner.

Sasaki said he plans on not just relying on Yamamoto, but fellow countryman Shohei Ohtani as well this season.

“There’s just a lot of things I’m not going to know, so I’m going to rely on our coaches and players in terms of just getting to know the team. But also, we have Japanese players on the team, so I’m going to lean on them as well,” Sasaki said.

If Sasaki pans out the way the Dodgers hope he does, they are going to have one of the best rotations in baseball.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) is photographed by media during an introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)

Ohtani will return to the mound after not pitching last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell this offseason.

Tyler Glasnow will be back after his 2024 season ended prematurely due to an elbow injury. Add Yamamoto and Sasaki into the mix, and it gives the Dodgers five starters with ace potential in their rotation, a rarity in baseball.

The Dodgers’ journey to trying to become repeat World Series champions begins when they take on the Chicago Cubs in Japan for a two-game series, on March 18 and 19.

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Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.

January 23, 2025