Shohei Ohtani Dating History: Is the MLB Superstar Secretly Dating? Girlfriend Rumors Revealed
By Oliver Wiener November 20, 2025 10:13
In a sport built on moonshots and nine-inning marathons, Shohei Ohtani has always been the unicorn: a 6-foot-4 force who in 2025 became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season, powering the Dodgers to a World Series title with a .310 average, 54 homers, 59 steals, and a 2.78 ERA across 12 starts post-Tommy John recovery. His right arm clocks 101 mph fastballs; his left swing produces exit velocities north of 110 mph. But amid the stat-padding spectacle including a unanimous NL MVP nod on November 18, 2025, his third in five years Ohtani’s personal life remains the ultimate no-hitter: zero leaks, zero drama, zero confirmed scandals.
For years, the 31-year-old Japanese phenom was MLB’s most eligible enigma, a tabloid tease whose silence fueled feverish speculation. Was he dating a cheerleader? A rapper? A softball star? The rumors swirled like a hanging curveball, but Ohtani, ever the stoic samurai, swatted them away with a smile and a focus on the field. “I’m here to play baseball,” he’d say through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara (pre-2024 scandal), his words a velvet curtain over the man behind the myth. Now, as the Dodgers celebrate their second ring in three years, Ohtani’s off-field story has emerged in quiet drips: a secret wedding, a baby girl, and a wife who’s as low-key as his changeup. No Hollywood hookups, no Vegas flings just a grounded love story that’s as rare as his two-way dominance.
Ohtani’s romantic dossier is thinner than a .220 hitter’s batting average. Back in Japan, during his days with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2013–2017), whispers linked him to Aya Yamauchi, a teammate’s sister and amateur golfer. Paparazzi snapped them at a 2016 Tokyo restaurant, but Ohtani’s camp dismissed it as “friendly dinner.” No Instagram clues, no follow-up sightings. “Shohei was always focused on training,” his former coach Masao Kida told The Japan Times in 2018. “Relationships? Not on the radar.” By the time Ohtani posted his 2017 diary a viral manifesto dreaming of a wife who’d support his grind and a son to inherit his glove fans were shipping him with every athlete in sight.
Stateside, the Angels era (2018–2023) cranked the rumor mill to 11. In 2018, ex-softball pro Kamalani Dung posted an Instagram of herself with Ohtani and Angels teammate Kike Hernández, captioning it a casual “thanks for hooking it up.” The internet erupted: Hawaiian beauty and Japanese unicorn? But Dung never confirmed, and Ohtani’s blank stare at the next presser said it all. “Rumors are part of the game,” he shrugged post a 2018 no-hitter bid. Then came 2021: Japanese volleyballer Sachia Kano tweeted support during Ohtani’s MVP push, followed by cryptic Instagram rings tied to his Cancer zodiac. Fans dissected it like a scouting report birthstone crab, “get well” vibes after his injury but Kano shut it down in a 2022 Asahi Shimbun interview: “Just a fan cheering a fellow athlete.”
The wildest whispers hit in 2023–2024, as Ohtani’s free agency loomed. Blind items hinted at a California cheerleader crashing his Irvine pad; tabloids floated Ice Spice after a Coachella sighting (debunked as mutual friends). One TMZ report even claimed a “mystery Japanese model” at his WBC celebrations, but Ohtani’s response? Crickets, punctuated by a 2023 season of 44 homers, 102 RBIs, and a 3.14 ERA that screamed “watch the ball, not my life.” His diary entry resurfaced: “I want a family where baseball is joy, not pressure.” Little did we know, he’d already found it.
The plot twist dropped February 29, 2024, two days after Ohtani’s Dodgers spring debut a two-run homer that echoed his pending $700 million deal. In a bilingual Instagram post, he revealed: “I got married this offseason to a normal Japanese woman I’ve known for three or four years.” No name, no photo, just a vow to “keep working hard.” The baseball world froze. Japan mourned its “national treasure” bachelor; social media lit up with 1 million likes in an hour. “Shohei Ohtani is married,” trended worldwide, blending congrats with heartbreak. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts grinned: “Shohei’s full of surprises on and off the field.”
Enter Mamiko Tanaka, 28, the “normal” half of baseball’s power couple. A former pro basketballer for the Fujitsu Red Wave in Japan’s Women’s League (2019–2023), she met Ohtani at a Tokyo training facility around 2020–2021, per The Japan Times. At 5-foot-11, Tanaka was a center-forward known for her quiet grit silver medalist at the 2017 Summer Universiade, she retired post-Tokyo Olympics to support Ohtani’s stateside leap. Their bond? Built on shared sweat: early-morning runs, mutual respect for the grind. “She understands my job completely,” Ohtani said in a rare March 2024 presser. “She’ll go wherever I play it had zero to do with free agency.” They wed quietly in early 2024, dodging the spotlight like a stolen base.
Public debuts were subtle: Tanaka’s arm around Ohtani in a Dodgers’ X post (March 2024), her black-clad figure at the Blue Diamond Gala (May 2024), cheering beside wives like Hilary Betts during Ohtani’s 2025 three-homer playoff barrage against the Brewers. She’s the anti-WAG: no IG influencers, no red-carpet flex. Just quiet presence packing bento for road trips, walking their corgi Decoy (the real MVP of Ohtani’s posts). “Mamiko’s my rock,” Ohtani hinted post-World Series Game 1 in October 2025, after Blue Jays fans trolled him. “She laughed it off keeps me grounded.”
The ultimate reveal: April 19, 2025. Ohtani’s IG showed tiny feet, a sonogram, and Decoy’s paws: “Can’t wait for the little rookie to join our family soon!” Their daughter arrived days later, unnamed and unphotographed. “Thank you for the safe delivery,” he captioned, voice cracking in a video. Fans melted: “Most humble power couple in sports,” one X user posted, echoing millions. Tanaka, per a People profile, prioritizes privacy Japanese tradition where the wife honors the husband’s lead. “Love doesn’t need noise,” she’s quoted saying. “Just trust and peace.”
As Ohtani eyes 2026 pitching a full slate, chasing 60-60 his family forms the quiet core. No secret dating, no scandals: just a man who’d rather discuss sliders than suitors. In a May 2025 Marca sit-down, he reflected: “Baseball’s my stage, but home’s my sanctuary. Mamiko and our girl? That’s the real grand slam.” Amid the $700M headlines and 100-mph heat, Ohtani’s heart proves the sweetest stat: 1 marriage, 1 daughter, infinite discretion. In baseball’s chaos, that’s unicorn status.
LATEST
- NEWS
- |
- ARTICLES
- |
- VIDEOS
FAN ARCH PODCAST NETWORK
