Shohei Ohtani soaks it all in as Dodgers win World Series in his first year with team

There were times during the Dodgers' World Series celebration Wednesday night that Shohei Ohtani looked giddy. He beamed, he giggled, he danced. He created geysers of beer and champagne, face awash in the sort of childlike wonder that belies the fact that he is both a 6-4 giant of a man, and one of the greatest players baseball has ever seen.

“I do feel like the celebration I've had in the past in Japan in WBC was a little bit toned down,” he said through an interpreter, speaking of his previous two championships. “I was able to really enjoy kind [the celebration] in a different way here today, and it's been really fun.”

It was more than fun. It was raucous.

Shortly after Freddie Freeman was presented with the World Series MVP trophy, the Dodgers marched into the plastic-covered visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and created the correct amount of mayhem. Here were Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow, both inexplicably shirtless, spraying each other with champagne like they were SuperSoakers. Oh, was Teoscar Hernandez doing an interview? No matter. Time to dump an entire bottle of Budweiser on his head. Oh, was Teoscar Hernandez doing another interview? No matter . . . (you get the idea).

“We are enjoying the [expletive] out of this tonight,” Dodgers general manager Andrew Friedman said. “We’re going to focus on this accomplishment and once we sober up, we’re going to focus on trying to do it again.”

They certainly seem built for it, which is why Ohtani signed with the Dodgers in the first place. After languishing with the Angels, who have proven shockingly adept at taking some of the greatest talents in baseball and doing a whole lot of nothing with them, Ohtani came to Los Angeles with the intention of becoming a winner.

“I'm honored to be able to be part of a season where we played the longest, and to be able to get to know this team,” he said. “My first year and experience winning a World Series has been a tremendous honor.”

And though he didn’t have the most successful World Series — he hit .230 over the five games — he was also playing despite dislocating his shoulder in Game 2 on Saturday. Just his presence in the lineup made a difference, manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he earned even more respect from his teammates playing with one arm,” Roberts said.

He added he was “thrilled” for Ohtani.

“Six years in the States, arguably the best player in the big leagues,” Roberts said. “He committed to us, and he wanted to play for a championship. For it to kind of come to fruition in his first year is pretty remarkable. What Shohei's done to our ballclub, the Dodger fan base domestically, globally, I just don't think you can quantify. And he's just such a good guy. He was playing with one arm in the postseason. Most guys would probably tap out, but he was going to not be denied playing and posting and being in the lineup. For him to hoist that World Series trophy, that's something he dreamed of, I'm sure.”

As much as that’s true, it turned out that the big party afterward even went beyond what he imagined.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.