LA Dodgers' 'super star' Shohei Ohtani opened his wallet generously for his Samurai Japan teammates.
Samurai Japan continued its unbeaten run in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) group stage and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Japan defeated the Czech Republic 9-0 in the WBC first-round game held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 10th. With this, Japan advanced from the group stage with a perfect 4-0 record and moved on to the quarterfinals, heading to the decisive venue in Miami, U.S. Meanwhile, the "common item" worn by the team attracted attention online.
On the 11th, according to the Japanese sports outlet "Chunichi Sports," after the game the team shared photos of the inside of a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane and pictures of teammates on their respective social media accounts during the transfer. Among them, a photo showing players wearing headphones engraved with a 'b' logo drew attention.
Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki and Orix Buffaloes pitcher Ryohei Sotani were seen wearing the headphones.
Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Shoma Fujihira posted on his Instagram story a box bearing the 'b' logo and the phrase "Shohei Ohtani," leaving the message "thank you."
Fans who saw these posts guessed that Ohtani, who is the brand ambassador for audio brand Beats, had gifted the headphones to the national team players.
On social media, reactions continued such as: "I saw everyone wearing Beats headphones—is that an Ohtani gift?", "Did he hand out Beats headphones to Samurai Japan players? Amazing," "They look cute all wearing matching ones," "As expected of Ohtani," and "Giving headphones as a gift—that's Ohtani-level scale."
The outlet reported, "According to the official Beats website, the product is the 'Beats Studio Pro' model and is priced at 49,800 yen (about 460,000 won)."
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