Shohei Ohtani has been with the Dodgers since signing the richest contract in sports history last December, but has yet to decide on a new home in Los Angeles.
In May, the designated hitter and pitcher purchased a luxury condominium in La Cañada Flintridge, California, for $7.85 million, which was revealed on Thursday. Through Yahoo Japan Otani apparently decided to sell the property without moving in yet.
According to Google Translate, the report states, “Otani said he could no longer live in the 1.2 billion yen mansion he purchased and expressed his intention to sell it rather than move to a new home.”
The home, valued at $1.2 billion, was previously owned by comedian Adam Carolla and has come to light through various publications, leaving fans with no easy way to know where the Japanese star lives as there is so much public information about the house.
Otani was then furious when two Japanese media outlets, Fuji Television and Nippon Television, made the mistake of revealing the address of his house and sending reporters to his front door to take photos and video and interview neighbors who were unaware that Otani lived in the area.
The reporter also reportedly took sneaky photos of a basketball court hidden among some dense trees on the property.
La Cañada Flintridge is located about 10 miles north of Dodger Stadium.
Each company was subsequently criticized for how they reported the story, but Fuji TV was the only one whose president, Koichi Minato, apologized.
Since then, Ohtani’s camp has been looking for a new buyer, not trusting the real estate company’s information system. The real estate company is reportedly in a “panic state,” sensing Ohtani’s anger and frustration.
Otani will likely live with his wife, Mamiko Tanaka.
She played at Waseda University and Tokyo Seitoku University and is a basketball player who played for the Fujitsu Red Wave from 2019 to 2023.
