Shohei Ohtani might be a Dodger, but his dog isn’t.
After Ohtani signed a $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgersone of the biggest questions of the offseason still remained unanswered: What is the name of the two-way star’s dog?
At his Dodgers introductory news conference ThursdayOhtani was asked exactly that after internet sleuths scrambled to crack the K9 code when rumors surfaced that Ohtani’s dog was named after a team he was seriously considering signing with this offseason.
“His name is Dekopin,” Ohtani said through a translator. “That’s a Japanese name. I figured it’d be hard for American people to pronounce it. He has an American name, it’s Decoy.”
In Japanese, “Dekopin” means to flick one’s forehead.
Shohei Ohtani revealed that his dog, the subject of much fascination in recent weeks, is named Decoy 🐶https://t.co/CdgSuHBp2Z pic.twitter.com/W61VX9ce2Z
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) December 14, 2023
The baseball world first met Dekopin during the 2023 MLB Network broadcast of the season’s awards, when Ohtani won his second American League MVP honor in three seasons.
It’s hard to steal the show from Shohei Ohtani, but… pic.twitter.com/KuKz9XIzgf
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 16, 2023
Speculation about Dekopin skyrocketed after ESPN’s Pablo Torre said on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast on Dec. 8 that Dekopin’s identity was kept confidential “because the dog’s name is the name of one of the teams he is considering.”
“Dodger? The dog’s got to be named Dodger,” Mina Kimes said in response on the podcast.
One day later, Ohtani’s deal, the largest contract in the annals of major North American team sports, was reported. The three-time All-Star is staying in Los Angeles but moving across town from Angel Stadium to Dodger Stadium. Still, the public — and even Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler — didn’t know Ohtani’s dog’s name until now.
“So his dog was named Dodger after all?” Buehler said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Dec. 9.
“I’d like to think it was named Walker but I guess I’ll find out soon,” Buehler said in a separate post.
Alas, “soon” is here, and one of the biggest looming questions this offseason is answered.
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(Photo: Emma Sharon / MLB Photos via Getty Images