Bill Plaschke: Do you still believe in Shohei Ohtani? I'm not sure.
Published in Baseball
LOS ANGELES — It still doesn't feel right.
It still doesn't make sense.
No matter how much Shohei Ohtani and his advisors attempt to clean it up, something in all this gambling garbage still stinks.
When a smiling Ohtani strides on to the Dodger Stadium field for their home opener Thursday, I want to believe.
I want to believe the game's greatest player is as pure as his image.
I want to believe the beloved global superstar is as honorable as he seems.
I want to believe the legendary Ohtani magic, for which the Dodgers just paid $700 million, is real.
But I just can't. Not completely. Not yet. Maybe one day, but not now.
The gambling controversy that has engulfed Ohtani in the past week has taken too many weird twists and wrong turns for me to feel completely confident in its ultimate destination.
This could be nothing. This could be everything. So much is still unknown. So much is still so confusing. Leak by agonizing leak, the uncertainty chips away at the aura of an icon who was once thought to be untouchable.
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