“Darvish is someone I really looked up to as a young kid” - Shohei Ohtani opens up on showdown against idol Yu Darvish in Seoul Series

The Seoul Series is almost here, and MLB fans will get an early taste of action for the 2024 season as Shohei Ohtani will take on his idol Yu Darvish in Game 1 of an exhilarating MLB regular season series.

The LA Dodgers square off against their National League rivals on the West Coast, the San Diego Padres, in a two-game series scheduled to be played inside the GoChoek Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, on March 20 and 21, 2024.

Ahead of the contest, both teams have already touched down in Seoul to start with their training regimes, as two-way ace Shohei Ohtani headlined a press conference, talking about the excitement of facing his baseball idol, Yu Darvish. Darvish is set to start against Tyler Glasnow in Game 1 on March 20.

Ohtani said:

"Darvish is someone I always looked up to as a young kid. Someone I really respect as a pitcher and I try to form my game around him and I had a chance to play with him in the WBC '23, had a chance to work out with him in the past offseasons, he is a good friend of mine.

"So, I haven't faced him up to this point, so I am really excited to face [him] finally," Ohtani on his respect towards Darvish and the excitement to face him in Game 1 of the Seoul Series.

Both Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani played for the same NPB ballclub, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, before making the switch to the MLB. But their playing time in Japan never intertwined, as Darvish made the switch to the Major League a lot earlier than Ohtani.

Since 2012, Darvish has impressed at the mound and become a role model to many Japanese ballplayers for his hardworking nature inside the diamond.

"Shotime" looks up to Darvish as his role model and is excited to face him for the first time in the Seoul Series, which is set to feature some amazing Asian ballplayers like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ha-Seong Kim and Yu Darvish.

Yu Darvish earlier voiced his excitement on facing Shohei Ohtani and LA Dodgers in Seoul Series

The 37-year-old veteran pitcher was announced to start Game 1 against the Dodgers' offseason signing Tyler Glasnow earlier this week. Yu Darvish had already voiced his excitement at the task of facing Ohtani, but most importantly, the LA Dodgers:

"Of course I'm looking forward to it, but I'm facing the Dodgers first of all. I'll try to get proper analysis about other players too heading into the game. I think it's really special. I'll look to prepare well with a sense of appreciation," Darvish on starting Game 1 against the Dodgers.

Tensions will likely be running high over the two games in Seoul, and it will be interesting to see how Shohei Ohtani fares in his maiden regular-season game with the Dodgers.