Shota Imanaga is known as baseball's "Throwing Philosopher" and the Chicago Cubs pitcher plans to get inside Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers' heads in Tuesday's Major League Baseball season-opener.
Japan's Imanaga will start for the Cubs in the first of two games against the World Series champion Dodgers in Tokyo, where he will come up against superstar compatriot Ohtani.
The pair played together in Japan's World Baseball Classic-winning team in 2023, with Imanaga starting the final against the United States.
Now they are preparing to square off in MLB uniforms at a sold-out Tokyo Dome, with Imanaga set to face Ohtani with his first pitch of the game.