T-Mobile Park will host Shohei Ohtani for the 32nd MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday.

Instead of facing the visitor’s side down third base, Ohtani turned toward the first base side and the home clubhouse being utilized by the host American League on Monday during Workout Day and the mandatory media meeting.

One of his Japanese childhood heroes, Ichiro, was his first target, so he set out to locate his locker, he claimed.

“Ippei Mizuhara was the interpreter, and I was kind of curious about Ichiro’s seat,” he explained. “Seeing the home team was pretty neat.”

Has Ohtani considered making that “home side” his permanent address at any point?

Throughout Ohtani’s last 2.5 months with the Angels, the question of whether his deal will be worth $500 million to $600 million—or more—has hung over everything.

Of course, during his 45-minute news conference, which was divided into thirds—around 15 minutes for Japanese TV, 15 minutes for Japanese print media, and 15 minutes for English media—Ohtani was asked a wide range of questions about his future.

Not surprisingly, Ohtani kept his cards close to his chest and didn’t drop any major hints.

“This is my third All-Star Game, but every time I come, my goal is to come back to the All-Star Game next year, so that’s basically all I think about,” he replied when asked if being here made him think even more about his future.

The Mariners were heavily involved in Ohtani’s December 2017 trade with the Angels and are rumored to be getting ready to do the same when he signs with the Seattle Seahawks. This has led some Mariners fans to believe that a possible Ohtani-Seattle union is on the horizon.

Ohtani mentioned his past offseason stays in Seattle when asked about his impressions of the area. In 2021, for example, he supposedly visited the Driveline Baseball development center in Kent.

Ohtani revealed that he had spent some time in Seattle during the offseason, possibly four months total. Plus, I thought the city was lovely. I thought it was great.

Regarding the factors that will influence his decision, Ohtani mentioned that the possibility of the Angels making the playoffs, something they haven’t done during his tenure with them, becomes more significant with each passing season.

“Those feelings grow stronger with each passing year,” he expressed via Mizuhara. When you lose, it hurts. He seeks victory. Therefore, that becomes more robust year.

For a good chunk of the first half, it looked like the Angels may finally have a winning season after a long drought (they were eight games ahead of the NL Central on June 18).

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No one thinks that’s likely. However, conjecture will persist until the trade deadline of August 1st has passed.

Ohtani has stated that he intends to avoid becoming entangled in it.

“Clearly, all the trade stuff is beyond his control,” Mizuhara stated in representing Ohtani. As a result, he avoids dwelling on the subject. The hardest aspect is attempting to win baseball games every day; all you can do is concentrate on the game at hand. Accordingly, he makes an effort to ignore all the trade-related details.

His press conference was dominated by such carefully phrased responses.

“It doesn’t really matter to him if it’s a big or smaller market,” Mizuhara said when asked whether Ohtani cared about playing in a larger or smaller market. His goal is to give his all for the Angels fans who come to watch games because they love the club. He acknowledged that there are certain things beyond his control, but he is determined to give it his all for the things that are within his control.

Questioned about his performance this season in light of free agency and the weight of his future on his mind, he offered similar responses.

His reaction was, “I’m not sure how that’s going to be,” since he had never been a free agent before. “As I mentioned earlier, my current concentration is on this season….” Regardless of whether I’ll be a free agent next year or not, I approach every season as unique. This season is no exception.

And Ohtani did his best to poke fun at the subject he knew he couldn’t escape from occasionally. Wow, Ohtani cracked a smile when we asked if he had received any recruitment pitches from other teams.

аs fоr tҺe secret, Һe vоweԀ tо keeρ ιt а secret.

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Ohtani was pressed between Jose Ramirez of Cleveland and Kyle Tucker of Houston as he spoke from an elevated table. Tucker once glanced over to the throng surrounding Ohtani with an expression that betrayed his apparent amusement since no one was in front of him.

Ohtani leads Major League Baseball with 32 home runs, including 17 in his past 34 games. If he had chosen to participate in Monday’s Home Run Derby, he could have been even more prominent. He lost in the first round to Juan Soto, the first time he has done this.

According to Ohtani, he was requested to take part, but he declined in part because his right middle finger became blistered.

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The American League lineup for Tuesday’s game is expected to feature Ohtani at second base.

After that, he’ll be back to his usual schedule with the Angels, which includes another trip to Seattle for a three-game series from September 11th to the 13th.

After this week, he’ll enter the offseason wondering what comes next. Mariners supporters are holding out hope that he’ll become so at home in the Seattle clubhouse that he’ll choose to make it his permanent home.