SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — San Diego starting pitcher Yu Darvish said he will try not to let his “personal feelings” for Shohei Ohtani affect his performance in Wednesday’s Major League Baseball season-opener in Seoul.
Darvish and the Padres will face Ohtani and his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in two games in the South Korean capital, with Darvish taking the mound in Game 1.
Tyler Glasnow will be the starting pitcher for the Dodgers.
Darvish and Ohtani both played on Japan’s World Baseball Classic-winning team last year and Ohtani has said he looked up to Darvish when he was growing up.
But Darvish intends to treat the Dodgers’ new blockbuster signing as just another opponent when they face off at Gocheok Sky Dome.
“Yes, we have trained together a lot but this time we will be facing each other as opponents,” the 37-year-old Darvish said Monday after the Padres beat South Korean team the LG Twins 5-4 in a warm-up game.
“I will study him and try not to let personal feelings come into it.”
Ohtani will make his Dodgers regular-season debut after joining the team in December on a 10-year deal worth $700 million — the richest contract in North American sporting history.
He won his second American League Most Valuable Player Award in six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels last year before departing for free agency.
Darvish and Ohtani both started their professional careers with Japan’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters before making high-profile moves to MLB.
The Dodgers signed another Japanese pitcher over the off-season in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who will start Game 2 in Seoul.
Darvish said his advice to Yamamoto would be “don’t panic” if things don’t go according to plan with his new team.
“The Dodgers signed him for the qualities he has,” Darvish said of Yamamoto, who joined the Dodgers on a 12-year, $325 million deal in December.
“If he keeps going at the pace he was going at in Japan, he will definitely succeed.”
Glasnow is also making his regular-season debut for the Dodgers after joining the club from the Tampa Bay Rays.
The 30-year-old said he has not struggled with jet lag since arriving in South Korea and is ready to go out and perform on Wednesday.
“Working with the coaches, I feel like I’m in a really good spot now,” he said.
“Just ironing out stuff early in spring and then just kind of keeping it on a consistent routine throughout spring.”
