50 free Shohei Ohtani trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Shohei Ohtani does things baseball had not seen since Babe Ruth, and a few things baseball had never seen at all: 10 wins and 10 homers in one Japanese season, a unanimous MVP as a pitcher-DH, 50 home runs and 50 steals, a $700 million contract with $680 million of it deferred, and a World Baseball Classic final that ended with him striking out his own Angels teammate. These 50 trivia questions about Shohei Ohtani cover the whole arc. Early life in Mizusawa, Iwate, with a badminton-playing mother and a coach who assigned him toilet-cleaning duty; the 2012 NPB draft and the Fighters jersey once worn by Yu Darvish; the 101 mph fastball that broke a bat in half; the 2016 Japan Series; the posting to the Angels and the Rookie of the Year; Tommy John surgery; the 2021 and 2023 unanimous MVPs; the Dodgers deal structure; the Ippei Mizuhara scandal; the 2024 World Series and the 2025 NLCS Game 4; plus Decoy the Kooikerhondje and a wife described only as 'a normal Japanese woman'. Easy questions stick to teams and awards; the hardest ask about Marc Kroon's record, the Edgar Martínez Award and Alfonso Soriano's 40-40 mark. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a one-line explanation. Play it online or print it for a baseball night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What nickname is Shohei Ohtani known by?
Shotime
His jerseys have outsold every other player's worldwide since 2023.
Q 02Which NPB team drafted Ohtani first overall in 2012?
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
He played there from 2013 to 2017 as both a pitcher and an outfielder.
Q 03In which Japanese prefecture was Ohtani born?
Iwate
He was born in Mizusawa, now part of the city of Ōshū, on July 5, 1994.
Q 04Ohtani's mother Kayoko competed at national level in high school in which sport?
Badminton
His father Toru played amateur baseball in the Japanese Industrial League.
Q 05Ohtani is the youngest of how many children?
Three
His older brother Ryuta also plays amateur baseball in the Industrial League.
Q 06Which high school did Ohtani choose, staying local rather than joining a big-city powerhouse?
Hanamaki Higashi
Pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, whom he admired, had gone there before him.
Q 07What chore did coach Hiroshi Sasaki assign Ohtani in high school to teach humility?
Toilet cleaning
Players lived on campus and went home only six days a year.
Q 08Besides baseball, which sport did Ohtani compete in at high school?
Swimming
His coach said he was fast enough to have been an Olympic swimmer.
Q 09How fast was the record high-school fastball Ohtani threw in 2012?
99 mph
Rōki Sasaki beat the Japanese high school mark with 101 mph in 2018.
Q 10Which pitcher had previously worn the No. 11 jersey Ohtani was given by the Fighters?
Yu Darvish
The Fighters won him over by promising to let him pitch and hit.
Q 11How many MLB teams did Ohtani narrow his finalists to before signing with the Angels in 2017?
Seven
The Angels paid the Fighters a $20 million posting fee on top of his bonus.
Q 12Ohtani's 2014 double of 10 wins and 10 homers had last been done in pro baseball in which year?
1918
Babe Ruth won 13 and hit 11 for that season's Boston Red Sox.
Q 13Ohtani's 101 mph pitch in October 2014 tied whose record for the fastest by an NPB pitcher?
Marc Kroon
The pitch shattered Ginji Akaminai's bat in half.
Q 14In which year did Ohtani win the Japan Series with the Fighters?
Q 21How many home runs did Ohtani hit in his first MVP season, 2021?
46
He also struck out 156 batters as a pitcher that year.
Q 22Ohtani's 2021 MVP made him the first winner at which position?
Designated hitter
He was also the 23rd pitcher to win the award.
Q 23What special honour did the Commissioner give Ohtani for his unprecedented 2021 season?
Historic Achievement Award
It recognised a two-way season with no statistical precedent.
Q 24The 2022 'Ohtani rule' lets a starting pitcher in the batting order do what after leaving the mound?
2016
That season he hit .322 with 22 homers and posted a 1.86 ERA on the mound.
Q 15Where did Ohtani choose to live during his five seasons with the Fighters?
The team dormitory
His parents oversaw his finances during those years.
Q 16What signing bonus did Ohtani get from the Angels, capped because he was under 25?
$2.315 million
The Angels also paid a $20 million posting fee to the Fighters.
Q 17What was Ohtani's ERA in his first two spring training games against major leaguers in 2018?
27.00
He gave up three homers in 2.2 innings and many writers wrote him off.
Q 18Which award did Ohtani win in November 2018, weeks after elbow surgery?
AL Rookie of the Year
He underwent Tommy John surgery on October 1 that year.
Q 19In June 2019 Ohtani became the first Japanese-born MLB player to do what?
Hit for the cycle
It came against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 13.
Q 20Ohtani's 2019 season ended early with surgery on what?
Left knee
He needed a bipartite patella repaired after hitting 18 homers that year.
Stay in as DH
He used it on Opening Day 2022 against Houston, striking out nine.
Q 25How many batters did Ohtani strike out in 2022, ranking third in the AL?
219
That total ranked third in the American League.
Q 26Whom did Ohtani strike out to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic final?
Mike Trout
Trout, his Angels teammate and the US captain, went down on a full count in a 3-2 win.
Q 27Japan's 2023 WBC title was the country's how-manyeth?
Third
Ohtani was named tournament MVP.
Q 28In May 2023 Ohtani passed Babe Ruth on the all-time list for what?
Pitching strikeouts
His 502nd strikeout victim was Houston's Jeremy Peña.
Q 29Ohtani led the AL with how many home runs in 2023, the first Japanese-born player to win a homer title?
44
He also won 10 games as a pitcher before his elbow gave out in August.
Q 30Which outstanding-DH honour did Ohtani win three straight times through 2023?
Edgar Martínez Award
In 2021 he was the first pitcher, first Japanese player and first Angel to win it.