Ohtani welcomed warmly, helps Betts, Freeman lead Dodgers in home debut - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani was pleased with the quality of his at-bats and «grateful» for the warm reception he received from the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd on Opening Day — but he came away from it all with one regret.

«I was the only guy who couldn't hit a homer,» Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said with a slight chuckle after the Los Angeles Dodgers breezed to a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

Ohtani was referring to the superstar trio atop the Dodgers' lineup, of which he is at the center. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the two hitters who flank Ohtani, each homered off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the third inning. But all three of them placed their imprint on the Dodgers' home debut, combining for five hits, four walks and four RBIs while scoring each of the Dodgers' first six runs.

Through the season's first three games — the Dodgers opened with a two-game series against the San Diego Padres in South Korea last week — Betts, Ohtani and Freeman are slashing .455/.578/.788 while driving in 13 of the Dodgers' 23 runs.

«There's been a lot of expectations on the outside,» Betts said, «but internally nobody expects anything more than what Freddie, Mookie, Shohei and everybody down the lineup can do. We're just going to do what we can.»

Betts, Ohtani and Freeman mark the fifth time in major league history that three players who finished within the top three in voting for the previous year's MVP have begun the ensuing season on the same team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Ohtani was the unanimous choice in the American League for the second time in three years in 2023; Betts and Freeman finished second and third, respectively, in National League voting.

Betts