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L.A. Story: Shohei Ohtani, The Los Angeles Dodgers, and a Season for the Ages
The definitive portrait of Shohei Ohtani's momentous debut season in Dodger blue
Baseball has never seen a player like Shohei Ohtani. After six seasons establishing himself as a once-in-a-century two-way star but making zero playoff appearances, Ohtani’s record-shattering $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers paired the sport's most prominent global celebrity with one of it's crown-jewel franchises, located in the entertainment capital of the world.
“You might have played with other teams — that’s the big leagues,” Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda used to say about his beloved team. “But when you come to the Dodgers, it’s the major leagues.”
L.A. Story is a multifaceted, insider's portrait of a debut season for the ages. Veteran baseball scribe Bill Plunkett deftly captures the phenomenon of baseball's "unicorn", with storylines including Ohtani's offensive explosion while recovering from Tommy John surgery, his first flirtations with postseason glory, and the gambling scandal involving his longtime interpreter and close friend that nearly upended everything before he could take his first at-bat at Dodger Stadium.
Built on daily reporting and conversations, this is an insightful, intriguing ride for Dodgers fans and keen baseball observers.
Baseball has never seen a player like Shohei Ohtani. After six seasons establishing himself as a once-in-a-century two-way star but making zero playoff appearances, Ohtani’s record-shattering $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers paired the sport's most prominent global celebrity with one of it's crown-jewel franchises, located in the entertainment capital of the world.
“You might have played with other teams — that’s the big leagues,” Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda used to say about his beloved team. “But when you come to the Dodgers, it’s the major leagues.”
L.A. Story is a multifaceted, insider's portrait of a debut season for the ages. Veteran baseball scribe Bill Plunkett deftly captures the phenomenon of baseball's "unicorn", with storylines including Ohtani's offensive explosion while recovering from Tommy John surgery, his first flirtations with postseason glory, and the gambling scandal involving his longtime interpreter and close friend that nearly upended everything before he could take his first at-bat at Dodger Stadium.
Built on daily reporting and conversations, this is an insightful, intriguing ride for Dodgers fans and keen baseball observers.
- GenresSportsNonfictionBaseball
256 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2025
2 people are currently reading
1739 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 22, 2025
My favorite thing about this book was getting to relive the many highs and many lows of the 2024 season. From all the injuries and the Ippei gambling scandal to Ohtani's 50/50 season and the World Series victory, this book paints a great narrative of the season, instead of reading like a Wikipedia summary of it. Still thrilled that Andrew Friedman got his "white whale".
April 25, 2025
In an information age in which Shohei Ohtani is not lacking for bandwidth, what makes Bill Plunkett's excellent book stand out is in the details. Plunkett is a smart, witty writer and has been over a couple of decades covering baseball. That carries over here. But it is his eye for the details during Ohtani's memorable first season with the Dodgers that makes this book stand out among the others. His interplay with the Japanese media covering Ohtani, his relationships with club president Stan Kasten, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts, all of this pays off with rich details. Not to mention Bill's small foray into Japanese, which scores him an early Ohtani scoop -- woof! -- and shows the value of being curious about another culture.
April 15, 2025
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: 2024 WORLD CHAMPION LOS ANGELES DODGERS… AND **SHOW-TIME** OHTANI… ONE OF THE GREATEST PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME… UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS PRESENTED IN A ***READERS-DIGEST-LITE*** INTERPRETATION!
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If you’re a true baseball fan… like I am… there is barely anything new in the reporting of the Dodgers 2024 championship season… and if anything… a mere infinitesimal amount of anything new… regarding Ohtani… and his totally… and almost embarrassingly… ignored… champion teammates… in this… in retrospect… oddly laid out book.
In addition to just being a baseball fan… if you happen to be a lifetime… from Brooklyn to Los Angeles Dodger… mega-Dodger-fan… like me… then there’s no other way to describe this book… but to describe it as disappointing!
While I was hoping… for some great inside… behind the scenes reporting… of not just the “secretive” all-time great “SHOW-TIME”… but all the colorful locker room and dugout interaction between among others… future Hall of Famers… Mookie Betts… Freddie Freeman… and Kershaw. Undoubtedly there would have to be some classic reporting of the renowned antics of *MISTER-BLUE-OCTOBER”… Kikee Hernandez… the blue collar existence of “Mad-Max” Muncy… oh the stories that would assuredly be told of the All-Star… who won my heart… and my baseball admiration… from the very start… Teoscar Hernandez…
But no… absolutely not! As far as Teo’s place in this book… he and Ohtani became friends… that’s it! That’s the summation of all the tell-all tidbits! And that’s about it… for the whole book! Other than one short chapter on Yamamoto. I’ll open the “Dodger-Blue-Kimono” regarding the content of this book.
What this book consists of for ninety-per-cent… of its content… is what can only be described as “regurgitated” standard quotes from Ohtani… that were delivered either… before… between… or after spring training… and games throughout the season and post season. There are no in depth… probing… questions and answers… no major topics delved into… for deeper understanding… no secrets or tender subjects put under a microscope by a probing reporter. There are a mere… small… or I should say… minuscule amount of non-noteworthy… inconsequential… filler quotes by Freddie and Mookie.
Oh yea… there is one other source of a volume of totally regurgitated… meaningless quotes… that were obviously taken out of a secret jar… or musty box in the back of an almost forgotten… abandoned closet… from manager Dave Roberts.
These quotes are so meaningless… and only uttered… to be gauged… AS TOTALLY NON-OFFENSIVE BY DODGER EXECUTIVES… BUT COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN “SPOKEN”… BY A VENTRILOQUISTS PUPPET! Hey! Wait a minute… they actually were!! And you never even see Andrew Friedman’s lips move!
To have such a non-ground breaking book… about a record breaking Dodger season… and at this point in time… I don’t see any books coming out… that are going to divulge anything that every Tom… Dick… and Harriet… didn’t already hear about on the nightly sports shows… then the issue is either that no sports writer with any chutzpah wants to take a chance on upsetting the tightly controlled Dodger Executives and their billion dollar image… and since that seems to be the situation… these vanilla… cut and paste… recordings… notes… and word documents… guest narrated by THE- MOST- TIGHTLY- LIPPED-WOOD-VENTRILOQUIST-DUMMY… (ROBERTS)… then this is the lack-of-quality end product we’re stuck with… unless someone digs into a much deeper vault of in depth… QUESTIONS… ANSWERS… AND OBSERVATIONS… BECAUSE THEY’RE DEFINITELY NOT BURIED HERE!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you’re a true baseball fan… like I am… there is barely anything new in the reporting of the Dodgers 2024 championship season… and if anything… a mere infinitesimal amount of anything new… regarding Ohtani… and his totally… and almost embarrassingly… ignored… champion teammates… in this… in retrospect… oddly laid out book.
In addition to just being a baseball fan… if you happen to be a lifetime… from Brooklyn to Los Angeles Dodger… mega-Dodger-fan… like me… then there’s no other way to describe this book… but to describe it as disappointing!
While I was hoping… for some great inside… behind the scenes reporting… of not just the “secretive” all-time great “SHOW-TIME”… but all the colorful locker room and dugout interaction between among others… future Hall of Famers… Mookie Betts… Freddie Freeman… and Kershaw. Undoubtedly there would have to be some classic reporting of the renowned antics of *MISTER-BLUE-OCTOBER”… Kikee Hernandez… the blue collar existence of “Mad-Max” Muncy… oh the stories that would assuredly be told of the All-Star… who won my heart… and my baseball admiration… from the very start… Teoscar Hernandez…
But no… absolutely not! As far as Teo’s place in this book… he and Ohtani became friends… that’s it! That’s the summation of all the tell-all tidbits! And that’s about it… for the whole book! Other than one short chapter on Yamamoto. I’ll open the “Dodger-Blue-Kimono” regarding the content of this book.
What this book consists of for ninety-per-cent… of its content… is what can only be described as “regurgitated” standard quotes from Ohtani… that were delivered either… before… between… or after spring training… and games throughout the season and post season. There are no in depth… probing… questions and answers… no major topics delved into… for deeper understanding… no secrets or tender subjects put under a microscope by a probing reporter. There are a mere… small… or I should say… minuscule amount of non-noteworthy… inconsequential… filler quotes by Freddie and Mookie.
Oh yea… there is one other source of a volume of totally regurgitated… meaningless quotes… that were obviously taken out of a secret jar… or musty box in the back of an almost forgotten… abandoned closet… from manager Dave Roberts.
These quotes are so meaningless… and only uttered… to be gauged… AS TOTALLY NON-OFFENSIVE BY DODGER EXECUTIVES… BUT COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN “SPOKEN”… BY A VENTRILOQUISTS PUPPET! Hey! Wait a minute… they actually were!! And you never even see Andrew Friedman’s lips move!
To have such a non-ground breaking book… about a record breaking Dodger season… and at this point in time… I don’t see any books coming out… that are going to divulge anything that every Tom… Dick… and Harriet… didn’t already hear about on the nightly sports shows… then the issue is either that no sports writer with any chutzpah wants to take a chance on upsetting the tightly controlled Dodger Executives and their billion dollar image… and since that seems to be the situation… these vanilla… cut and paste… recordings… notes… and word documents… guest narrated by THE- MOST- TIGHTLY- LIPPED-WOOD-VENTRILOQUIST-DUMMY… (ROBERTS)… then this is the lack-of-quality end product we’re stuck with… unless someone digs into a much deeper vault of in depth… QUESTIONS… ANSWERS… AND OBSERVATIONS… BECAUSE THEY’RE DEFINITELY NOT BURIED HERE!
May 5, 2025
This is a book for Dodger fans. Bill Plunkett, the author, has covered the Dodgers for many seasons for the Orange County Register. . He takes the reader inside the Dodgers’ World Series winning season with a focus on Shohei Ohtani a once in a generation (or multi generation) player who joined the Dodgers in December 2023. He recounts the season by covering all the series and details Ohtani's incredible achievements at bat and on the bases (50 HRs 50 SBs) and suggests he achieved these milestones as he wasn’t pitching but was recovering from Tommy John surgery. Plunkett also covers the gambling scandal involving his longtime interpreter who stole $17 million from Ohtani to cover gambling debts. Best of all for this fan was coverage of the World Series. I loved reliving that joy!! In the words of Tommy Lasorda “you might have played with other teams -- that's the big leagues. But when you come to the Dodgers, it's the major leagues." A great read !!
November 7, 2025
I finished this book before Game 2 of the 2025 World Series, which was necessary for the team to win.
obviously.
Anyways, I read it after Sho-Time by Jeff Fletcher, which covers Ohtani's career to and through the Angels. L.A. Story picks up right where it left off, with wooing Ohtani to the Dodgers. It traces the moves and events of the off-season all the way through the end. Compared to Sho-Time, there are a lot more little details and fun facts that felt like the inside scoop from someone who was right there all the time. Some parts have more stats, though, and some of the accounting of wins/losses mid-season drags a little. It does focus way more on Ohtani than any of the other stars on this squad. I also imagine that anyone who was a Dodgers fan following along through the season already knows most of this. But, for a recent convert like me, it was a great way to get up to speed.
Looking forward to the 2025 edition! 😉
obviously.
Anyways, I read it after Sho-Time by Jeff Fletcher, which covers Ohtani's career to and through the Angels. L.A. Story picks up right where it left off, with wooing Ohtani to the Dodgers. It traces the moves and events of the off-season all the way through the end. Compared to Sho-Time, there are a lot more little details and fun facts that felt like the inside scoop from someone who was right there all the time. Some parts have more stats, though, and some of the accounting of wins/losses mid-season drags a little. It does focus way more on Ohtani than any of the other stars on this squad. I also imagine that anyone who was a Dodgers fan following along through the season already knows most of this. But, for a recent convert like me, it was a great way to get up to speed.
Looking forward to the 2025 edition! 😉
June 11, 2025
The 2024 Major League Baseball season was nothing short of historic—and no player stood taller than Shohei Ohtani. In “L.A. Story: Shohei Ohtani, The Los Angeles Dodgers, and a Season for the Ages,” writer Bill Plunkett brings the magic of that unforgettable year vividly back to life by focusing on its most captivating figure.
Plunkett chronicles Ohtani’s epic debut season in Dodger Blue, weaving together behind-the-scenes anecdotes, pivotal moments, and the off-field turmoil that defined a franchise under pressure. From Ohtani’s unprecedented chase of a 50/50 season to a World Series clash between the sport’s two biggest powerhouses, this book captures it all.
With humor, insight, and a crisp storytelling style, “L.A. Story” is more than just a recap—it’s a keepsake.
Plunkett chronicles Ohtani’s epic debut season in Dodger Blue, weaving together behind-the-scenes anecdotes, pivotal moments, and the off-field turmoil that defined a franchise under pressure. From Ohtani’s unprecedented chase of a 50/50 season to a World Series clash between the sport’s two biggest powerhouses, this book captures it all.
With humor, insight, and a crisp storytelling style, “L.A. Story” is more than just a recap—it’s a keepsake.
April 12, 2025
I was one of the lucky winners in the goodreads Giveaway. Ordinarily I don't read sports books. To many stats. But that's me. L A Story..to many stats if it is your thing. Great review on Ohtani and his accomplishments. I enjoyed reading about the thinking of management and some of the way Ohtani approached signing with the Dodgers. I, too, wish there was more details on Betts and Yamamoto. I am left with a lingering question: Who was the real gambler?
September 20, 2025
I got the sense that the author (no relation) was writing box scores in prose form, but I did enjoy the records listed (but not so much of the exit velocity stats) throughout. And this Pittsburgh baseball fan finally finished reading it on International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
April 28, 2025
Ohtani is a BEAST! Loved the book.
December 26, 2025
gooned to this shit on the plane
April 21, 2025
Didn't get any new insights or anything about the season, but it's a decent recap of the Dodgers 2024 World Series championship season focusing primarily on Ohtani's journey.. We get an overview of his signing, the gambling scandal with his interpreter and his quest for 50-50... the rest of team kinda gets short shrift here.. we get a chapter on Yamamoto, a short section on Freddie Freeman's world series heroics... maybe one line on Mookie Betts... kinda wish it was a bit more in depth on the season and the rest of the squad but I get that Ohtani is the draw here.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews