OK, here’s what we know: Shohei Ohtani is arguably the best baseball player who’s ever lived. He’s the only player in Major League Baseball history to unanimously win the MVP award twice.
We also know he’s incredibly wealthy, thanks to the record-setting, 10-year, $700 million contract he recently signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here’s what we didn't know until Thursday night: his dog’s name. It was hound for hound the most adorable question vexing baseball fans.
"So his name is Dekopin, that's a Japanese name," Ohtani said during a Dec. 14 press conference. "I figured it would be hard for American people to pronounce it so he has an American name and it's Decoy."
In Japanese, Dekopin means flicking someone’s forehead with a finger, which may lead to more questions about the name choice down the line.
Ohtani’s dog became a bit of a star itself last month when the sensational two-way player won the American League MVP for the second time with the Los Angeles Angels. The only problem is no one knew the pooch’s name.
Sports journalist Pablo Torre stoked the embers of controversy last week when he said there was a reason no one knows the animal’s name.
“The rumor I have heard is that Shohei Ohtani’s dog’s name — the reason they’re not saying it — is because the dog’s name is the name of one of the teams he is considering,” he said on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast, before Ohtani’s signing with the Dodgers was announced.
Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler wondered if the pup may have indeed been named after his team.
“So his dog was named Dodger after all?” he wrote on X on Dec. 9.
“I’d like to think it was named Walker but I guess I’ll find out soon,” he followed up a few minutes later.