Who is Mamiko Tanaka? Everything you need to know about Shohei Ohtani's wife
It was only two weeks ago that Shohei Ohtani shocked the world and broke thousands of hearts by announcing that he was married via Instagram.
His wife remained a mystery though. Sure, there was speculation regarding who she was, but there was no confirmation on the matter. Well, today, we earned our first look at Ohtani's spouse, Mamiko Tanaka.
The Los Angeles Dodgers confirmed that the woman in the photo was, in fact, Shohei Ohtani's wife via their own post on X.
The ALT text attached to the image clearly states, "A photo of Shohei Ohtani and his wife before the flight to Korea." The text did not identify the woman by name, but it did not take long for the internet to identify her as Mamiko Tanaka. A high-profile Japanese athlete herself, there will surely be immense interest in Tanaka.
However, given that Ohtani has already claimed that he married a "typical, ordinary person," there probably isn't much to know about her, right? Oh, that could not be a more erroneous assumption.
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Who is Mamiko Tanaka?
Tanaka is a 27-year-old professional women's basketball player, who competed with the Fujitsu Red Wave during the 2022-23 season. Although she started her career in 2019, she did not compete for the team during the 2023-24 season.
Tanaka, 5-foot-11, posted 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in 24 minutes per game during her final season. Her season-high for points in a game was 24 against the Himeji Egrets.
Tanaka was WNBA draft eligible after she finished college at Waseeda University in 2018. However, Tanaka opted to play in Japan instead.
Why are she and Ohtani headed to Korea?
The Los Angeles Dodgers open their 2024 season in Seoul, South Korea against their NL West rivals, the San Diego Padres. This will be the first time in MLB history that a regular season game is played in Korea. The two-game series will take place between March 20-21, with each team serving as the "home team" for one game. The rest of MLB will not start their season until March 28.
How to watch the Padres-Dodgers Seoul series
- March 20: 6 a.m. ET on ESPN at Gocheok Sky Dome
- March 21: 6 a.m. ET on ESPN at Gocheok Sky Dome
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