Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a little extra zip on his fastball. Shohei Ohtani even admitted to some nerves. There was little doubt this was no ordinary baseball game.

In what was a display of Japanese baseball excellence, Ohtani’s teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto faced off against Shota Imanaga, marking the first game in MLB history which featured two Japanese-born starting pitchers in an Opening Day game.