Commentary: The Shohei Ohtani Economy: a two-mile ride to Dodger Stadium, for $85

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Set us as preferred It’s almost time for Dodger baseball.I am standing outside a hotel in downtown Los Angeles.I could walk six blocks to Union Station and ride the free Dodger Stadium Express.

I could jump into an Uber and pay about $18 for the two-mile ride.Instead, to make that short hop to the ballpark, I am about to board a very nice bus that costs $85.Is it worth it? Dodgers Catcher Dalton Rushing, who’d already been pressed into duty because of Will Smith’s lingering neck injury, will be shut down from throwing for four to six weeks.First, some background: The Japanese travel agency JTB last year signed a sponsorship agreement that makes the company the “official Japanese tourism partner” of the Dodgers.JTB sells tour packages to Japanese fans eager to make the pilgrimage to see Shohei Ohtani play.“Some people go to Disneyland and Universal Studios,” said Masakazu Nakafuji, general manager of JTB’s New York office.

“Mainly, people want to see the Dodgers for three straight days at Dodger Stadium.”The tour packages include game tickets, hotel rooms and transportation.However, not every fan from Japan buys the entire tour package, so the company launched a shuttle service: If you get tickets and hotels on your own, we’ll sell you a VIP ride, with a bilingual guide.“So far, our shuttle customers are 90% Japanese,” Nakafuji said.

“We are going to try to expand in the English-language market.”On the shuttle bus I rode last week, I met Tsutomu and Sayuri Ichikawa, a couple from Tokyo wearing his and hers Roki Sasaki jerseys.The Ichikawas visited in May, on a JTB tour in which they saw three Dodgers games.

The couple came back to see six more Dodgers games on their own, so the shuttle offered them a familiar way to get to Dodger Stadium.I also met a woman named Colleen and her 8-year-old son, ...