SEOUL — Every Major League Baseball team has an interpreter to help Spanish-speaking players interact with the media. Teams with Japanese players have interpreters for them, too. Until about 24 hours ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers had multiple Japanese interpreters, one for each of their two new Japanese stars. Most of these interpreters live in relative anonymity, known only to the fans who watch every interview, cult heroes to those who know 40-man rosters like they know the alphabet.

But Ippei Mizuhara, by virtue of serving as Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter for every moment of his major league career, has always had an outsize profile. The affable guy with the floppy hair who translated every Ohtani answer, and therefore shaped the way American fans understood him, became a household name to baseball fans from Southern California to Tokyo.

He and Ohtani’s friendship became an endearing part of the Japanese superstar’s story, cemented into the hearts of fans when Mizuhara, prohibited from speaking to Ohtani during the 2021 MLB lockout as a team employee, quit his job as a Los Angeles Angels interpreter so he could maintain their friendship instead.

So it was not only stunning, but downright unmooring, when news reports surfaced Wednesday alleging that Mizuhara had accumulated millions in gambling debt that Ohtani helped him pay as Ohtani’s representatives, the West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler, claimed “massive theft” against their client.

Berk Brettler did not name Mizuhara specifically in that allegation, but the line between the reports and the firm’s assertions was not hard to draw: ESPN reported that Mizuhara sat for an interview in which he admitted accumulating massive gambling debts and claimed Ohtani paid the debt for him to ensure he would not repeat his mistakes. Later, he gave a second interview in which he claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the situation. The Dodgers fired him, leaving Ohtani to play his first-ever game without his sidekick in Seoul on Thursday evening.

Mizuhara, 39, was born in Japan but grew up and went to high school in Southern California, according to a 2021 profile from the Japanese outlet Nippon. His relationship with Ohtani dates to 2013, when Mizuhara was working as an interpreter for NPB’s Nippon Ham Fighters. Ohtani debuted for the Fighters that year, and he and Mizuhara shared their clubhouse until he departed for MLB five years later.

When Ohtani came to the United States ahead of the 2018 season, Mizuhara came with him. The Angels brought him on as Ohtani’s full-time interpreter, but their relationship was more friendship than professional. Mizuhara was always by Ohtani’s side, not only in every dugout shot, but also off the field. When Ohtani was at his locker, Mizuhara was by his side. When they had down time, they often shared it. When Ohtani went out to the field, Mizuhara went out with him, often carrying a glove of his own. When it was time for high-pressure mound visits during Ohtani’s pitching career, Mizuhara was delivering coaches’ messages then, too. When Ohtani competed in his first, and so far only, Home Run Derby at the 2021 all-star event, Mizuhara served as the catcher.

Now, Mizuhara’s name will be forever tied to Ohtani for far different reasons. And for the first time in Ohtani’s professional career, in two countries and two big league teams, Mizuhara will not be by his side.