Major League Baseball's two-way sensation Ohtani Shohei will take the mound in Tokyo on Thursday for Samurai Japan's first game against China in the World Baseball Classic tournament.

Apparently, the tradition also spread to the 12 professional baseball clubs, making the sport one of the most colorful sights in the Japanese sport.

Stating its interest since early September, Rakuten decided to tread its foot onto the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

Shohei Ohtani, Kole Calhoun, Matt Thaiss and Anthony Bemboom all homered to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 9-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

Japanese star Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run of the season with a two-run shot on Monday in the Los Angeles Angels game against the Minnesota Twins.

Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4 with an RBI groundout and walked once in his season debut as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 Tuesday night.

Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell took a perfect game into the sixth inning and Tommy Pham hit his first career grand slam, leading the Tampa Bay Rays over the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-1 on Monday night.

Tomoyuki Sugano lost his bid for the first shutout of Japan's new imperial era but still managed to go the distance as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Chunichi Dragons 5-1 in the Central League on Wednesday afternoon.

Cincinnati manager David Bell notices the difference from his playing days.