OSHU CITY, Japan — In Oshu, the small rural town where Shohei Ohtani grew up, baseball is as much a part of the landscape as the farm fields and low hills that surround it. The area has long been known for its beef and hardware. Now it is famous for Ohtani.

Local officials have organized watch parties at community centers in the area where people are given inflatable sticks with the words “Shohei Ohtani – The Pride of Oshu City” written on them to cheer on Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar, during his team faces the New York Yankees in Ohtani’s first World Series.

As they watched Game 4, which aired at 9 a.m. in Japan on Wednesday, Yasuo Sakamoto, 74, and his wife Keiko, 70, wore the Dodgers jerseys and caps they received when they visited Los Angeles this summer to see Ohtani play.

“Even at my age, I’m really impressed with him,” Yasuo Sakamoto said of Ohtani. “If there is news about Ohtani in Japan, it is good news. If they win, it will be even better.”

After losing the first three games to the Dodgers, the Yankees staved off a potential victory in Game 4, winning 11-4 at home. The teams will play Game 5 of the best-of-seven series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday – and Japan will be watching.

Ohtani, 30, a two-time American League Most Valuable Player and favorite to be named National League MVP this year, is not the first powerhouse baseball player to come from Japan’s Iwate Prefecture, which is about 300 miles north of Tokyo. But people here see him as a “once in a century” talent.

“They are blessed with wonderful coaches,” said superfan Hironobu Kanno, surrounded by some of the estimated 3,000 Ohtani memorabilia he has collected as he watched Ohtani rise through Japan’s amateur ranks to Major League Baseball and with which rose to a record $700 million. 10 year contract.