Ohtani has long been MVP for one couple

When Shohei Ohtani won the American League MVP award Thursday, beating out Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien, there may not have been anyone happier for the Angels’ twoway star than Tomoyuki and Kaoru Iwase. They have never formally met Ohtani, 27, but they have watched him play perhaps more than anyone outside of his family.

Kaoru attended 136 of the Angels’ 162 games this season to watch Ohtani play (not including the Home Run Derby in Denver in July). Her husband, Tomoyuki, said he attended roughly 10 fewer games. The superfans used to fly to Japan to see him play for his former team, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Tomoyuki, 49, estimated they went to 15 different MLB stadiums to see Ohtani play this season. Kaoru, 38, posts about the travels on her Instagram page.

They own roughly 300 Ohtani memorabilia items, from his Ham Fighters and Angels jerseys to his bobbleheads to balls he tossed into the crowd. A few years ago, they had a wedding photo shoot at Angel Stadium while donning Ohtani jerseys. They used to live a 30-minute drive away from the stadium in Anaheim but last year moved to an apartment a five-minute walk from the ballpark.

“Why I love Shohei and why he’s the best and why I’m chasing him, the reason is that his mind is the best,” an emotional Kaoru said. “He never changed his goal. In Japan, in high school, everybody said a (twoway) player is impossible.”

In a television interview after being named the AL winner, Ohtani admitted he had dreamed about winning an MVP award one day when he first came to the U.S. to pitch and hit.

“But I was more appreciative of the fact that American fans and the whole USA baseball was more accepting and welcoming of the whole two-way idea compared to when I first started in Japan,” he said. “It made the transition a lot easier for me.”

The Iwases, who met in Japan and have followed Ohtani’s career since he was a highly rated prospect in high school, have watched Ohtani grow up, get bigger and stronger, hit some speed bumps, and now dominate on the biggest stage. “He changed the rules,” Tomoyuki said. “What he does is just unbelievable.”

He changed the rules. What he does is just unbelievable.

TOMOYUKI IWASE, SHOHEI OHTANI FAN