"People are gonna expect now" - Derek Jeter identifies Shohei Ohtani’s upcoming challenges after Dodgers secure World Series

On October 30, Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers defeated the Yankees to win the 2024 World Series. Although it was the Dodgers' second title since 2020, it was Ohtani's first time participating in the MLB postseason.

Among those with a front-row seat to the historic game was Derek Jeter. The Hall of Famer former Yankee shortstop now serves as an analyst on FOX. In his post-game remarks, Jeter praised Ohtani, but also offered some wisdom for the star's career going forward, saying:

"He’s done it all. The only challenge Ohtani’s gonna have is to do it again. Because people are gonna expect now, Ohtani’s one of those you just can’t take your eyes off of him.”

A five-time World Series champion during his twenty seasons playing for the New York Yankees, Jeter knows what he is talking about. Between 1996 and 2000, the Yankees won four of five World Series with Jeter at the helm. Now, the 50-year-old believes that fans will levy the same expectations on Shohei Ohtani.

For the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were World Series favorites before the first pitch of the 2024 season was even thrown. In addition to committing $700 million over ten seasons to Ohtani, GM Brandon Gomes pledged approximately $500 million over the next number of years to pickups like Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

"Move aside, #WorldSeries champion Shohei Ohtani coming through" - MLB

For Shohei Ohtani himself, his performance in the 2024 postseason was a mixed bag. After a lackluster NLDS against the Padres, the Japanese superstar hit .364 with 2 homers and 6 RBIs in the NLCS against the New York Mets. In the World Series, Ohtani went just 2-for-19 without a home run or an RBI recorded.

Shohei Ohtani's World Series win captured the hearts of millions

In his homeland of Japan, thousands were celebrating in the early hours of the morning as they watched Ohtani and his teammates rush the field. As a hardcore fan in Japan, Hideki Shinohara told AP:

“He is the pride of Japan, you cannot describe him with just ‘amazing.’ You need to invent a new word. He went through many things this year, and I didn’t expect him to come all this way. I am very pleased with what he has achieved."

With at least a decade to go with the Dodgers, it does appear as though the legend of Ohtani is only in the initial stages.