Ohtani: Seoul games to offer ‘great memories’
SEOUL, South Korea — Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani says the upcoming Major League Baseball season opener against the San Diego Padres in Seoul will provide “great memories” for him and his wife, but he will attempt to focus on baseball.
Ohtani spoke to journalists with Dodgers teammates at a packed news conference Saturday, a day after he arrived in Seoul with his wife Mamiko Tanaka.
He said it was the first time for his wife “to come with me to a game like this.”
“So I think it’s going to be really great memories for both of us. But like I said earlier, I have one job to focus on. It’s baseball,” Ohtani said via an interpreter.
In late February, Ohtani, 29, posted on Instagram that he was married to “a normal Japanese woman” he had known for three to four years. He hadn’t said who she was until another Instagram post with a photo of him and Tanaka on Thursday.
Tanaka, 27, is a former professional basketball player who played for the Fujitsu Red Wave in the Women’s Japan Basketball League from 2019 to 2023.
The Dodgers-Padres games on March 20-21 will be Ohtani’s debut with the Dodgers, and they will be the first MLB regular-season games in Seoul.
In December, Ohtani signed a record 10-year, $700 million contract to join the Dodgers. He underwent surgery on his right elbow in September and will not pitch this season. He will be used as a designated hitter, and there is a possibility he could play in the field.
Ohtani said he was aware of the intense international media focus on the games in Seoul.
“I appreciate all the attention. Obviously, attention is always great, being a baseball player and being able to play with these great guys next to me. I’m really excited,” Ohtani said, referring to his two teammates speaking at the news conference, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. “I’m really used to the attention, but I just try to focus on what’s in front of me, whatever it is.”
South Korean media have churned out stories on Ohtani, mostly in a positive tone, with social media filled with messages supporting and praising the Japanese phenomenon. Members of his fan club in South Korea put up placards welcoming Ohtani’s arrival at Incheon international airport Friday.
That’s not an usual South Korean treatment of any celebrity from Japan, given the two countries’ strong rivalry in sports and other areas mainly due to Japan’s past colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
“Japan and Korea, they’ve always had a great rivalry when it comes to sports. I’ve always watched the games between Japan and Korea, and I always respected, looked up to Team Korea and Korean players,” Ohtani said. “So being accepted like this and welcomed is a very good feeling. And I want to put on a very good show for everybody.”
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David Hale
The ACC will roll out its new nine-game conference schedule in a modified form for the 2026 football season, the conference announced Tuesday, with a full nine-game slate beginning in 2027.
For the upcoming season, which the ACC is calling a “transition year,” 12 of its 17 schools will play nine conference games, with Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina and Boston College playing just eight. Those five teams each have multiple Power Four opponents already scheduled outside the conference.
Because the ACC has an odd number of teams, one school will play eight league games each season starting in 2027.
Four ACC schools — Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisville — have an annual rivalry game against the SEC, and while Louisville AD Josh Heird said his school is eager to play a strong schedule each season, the other three initially balked at the lack of scheduling flexibility that would come with a nine-game conference slate and an annual nonconference game against their SEC rival.
Clemson has also scheduled an annual series against Notre Dame that starts in 2027, meaning that any year in which the Tigers are slated for nine ACC games, they’d be guaranteed at least 11 games vs. Power Four opponents.
Under the ACC’s new nine-game scheduling plan, which was approved in September, each team will be required to play at least 10 games against Power Four competition, meaning one nonconference Power Four game for the schools playing the full nine-game conference slate, and two for any teams playing eight.
The ACC will also adjust its tiebreaker policies for the 2026 season and beyond as a result of the unequal scheduling. The new formula, however, might also address concerns following this year’s five-team tie for second place in the conference that allowed a 7-5 Duke team to reach the championship game, which the Blue Devils ultimately won.
This marks the fourth different scheduling format for the ACC in the past four years. In 2022, the ACC agreed to scrap divisions for the 2023 season. In 2024, Cal, Stanford and SMU joined the league, forcing the ACC to adjust its annual rivalry games to fit the expanded roster of schools. The new nine-game league schedule, the ACC said, will allow for increased flexibility in scheduling and allow schools to face off more frequently.
The ACC remains contractually tied with Notre Dame as well, playing five nonconference games per year against the Fighting Irish.
Teams with a nine-game ACC slate in 2026
California
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Home: Clemson, Pitt, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
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Away: NC State, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia
Duke
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Home: Boston College, Clemson, North Carolina, Stanford
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Away: Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Virginia, Wake Forest
Louisville
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Home: Florida State, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, Wake Forest
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Away: Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Syracuse
Miami
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Home: Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Pitt, Virginia Tech
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Away: Clemson, North Carolina, Stanford, Wake Forest
NC State
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Home: California, Duke, Louisville, Syracuse, Wake Forest
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Away: Florida State, North Carolina, Stanford, Virginia (in Brazil)
Pitt
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Home: Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Syracuse
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Away: Boston College, California, Louisville, Miami, Virginia Tech
SMU
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Home: Boston College, California, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
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Away: Florida State, Louisville, Stanford, Syracuse
Stanford
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Home: Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, SMU
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Away: California, Duke, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Syracuse
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Home: California, Clemson, Louisville, SMU
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Away: Boston College, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, Virginia
Virginia
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Home: California, Duke, North Carolina, NC State (in Brazil), Syracuse
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Away: Florida State, SMU, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Virginia Tech
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Home: Georgia Tech, Pitt, Stanford, Virginia
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Away: Boston College, California, Clemson, Miami, SMU
Wake Forest
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Home: Duke, Miami, Stanford, Virginia
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Away: California, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, SMU
Teams with an eight-game ACC schedule in 2026
Boston College
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Home: Florida State, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
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Away: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU
Clemson
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Home: Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia Tech
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Away: California, Duke, Florida State, Syracuse
Florida State
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Home: Clemson, NC State, SMU, Virginia
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Away: Boston College, Louisville, Miami, Pitt
Georgia Tech
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Home: Boston College, Duke, Louisville, Wake Forest
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Away: Clemson, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Stanford
North Carolina
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Home: Louisville, Miami, NC State, Syracuse
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Away: Clemson, Duke, Pitt, Virginia
LUBBOCK, Texas — Big 12 champion Texas Tech, which has a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, has extended the contracts of all three of its coordinators and the team’s general manager through the 2028 season.
The school announced the extensions Tuesday night for offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich, defensive coordinator Shiel Wood, associate head coach and special teams coordinator Kenny Perry, and GM James Blanchard.
“I appreciate (athletic director) Kirby Hocutt and our administration for proactively investing in the future of our football program,” head coach Joey McGuire said. “Our expectation is to compete annually for championships with this staff and the resources we have in place here at Texas Tech.”
Those new contracts for the assistants come two weeks after McGuire got an extension through the 2032 season and a significant pay raise.
Fourth-ranked Texas Tech (12-1) will play in the Orange Bowl CFP quarterfinal game on New Year’s Day against Oregon or James Madison.
Jeremiyah Love, the star Notre Dame running back and Heisman Trophy finalist, made it official Tuesday night and declared for the 2026 NFL draft.
Love made the announcement on social media, thanking his family, Fighting Irish coaches and teammates, among others, and saying he “could not have picked a better place for me to grow into the man I am today.”
Love is widely expected to be the top running back selected in next year’s draft.
The 6-foot, 214-pounder is projected to go No. 3 in Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest Big Board for ESPN, and Field Yates has him going 14th to the Kansas City Chiefs in his latest mock draft.
Love scored 21 all-purpose touchdowns in 2025, passing Jerome Bettis (1991) for the most in a season in Notre Dame history. The junior also ended the regular season fourth nationally with 1,372 rushing yards and third with 18 rushing touchdowns, averaging 6.89 yards per carry.
He finished third in Heisman voting behind winner Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, and Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia. And he was Notre Dame’s first winner of the Doak Walker Award, given to the top running back in college football.
Love’s junior season already has ended because Notre Dame (10-2) didn’t make the College Football Playoff and opted against playing in a bowl.
As a sophomore, Love rushed for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns on 163 carries, helping Notre Dame reach the CFP championship game, which it lost 34-23 to Ohio State. He had 28 catches for 237 yards and two touchdowns that season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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