Roki Sasaki could be the greatest Japanese pitcher ever. He hopes the Dodgers can turn him into just that, even if it means Shohei Ohtani outshines him.

Suzuki spent nine seasons with Orix in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball before joining MLB and the Mariners in 2001. While Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo was a star for the Dodgers in the 1990s, Suzuki was the first Japanese position player to enjoy that level of success in the majors.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he’s much more than that in Japan. Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan’s economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he is much more than that at home in Japan. Ichiro is a wellspring of national pride — like Shohei Ohtani now —

Ichiro debuted in Major League Baseball in 2001 with the Seattle Mariners, the first Japanese position player to span the Pacific and an instant star. Left-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country’s confidence in a period of national malaise.

The Dodgers cemented their status as the preferred MLB destination for NPB stars and transformed their rotation into a Mount Rushmore of Japanese pitching luminaries by winning the Rōki Sasaki sweepstakes.

TOKYO — Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he’s much more than that in Japan. Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan’s economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

Yankees legend Hideki Matsui played seven seasons for the Yankees. It wasn’t until his final one, in 2009, with the addition of lefty ace CC Sabathia, that he managed to get that elusive World Series ring.

Ichiro Suzuki has become the first Japanese player to make it to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is likely to be the next.

Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now ... Left-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country ...

Roki Sasaki was formally introduced by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a press conference at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday. The Japanese phenom was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in December and immediately became one of the most coveted free agents of the offseason.

What do you buy for the team that has everything? That is the question that the Los Angeles Dodgers have been wrestling with this winter. The answer, it would appear, is Roki Sasaki.