Mookie Betts has advice for Shohei Ohtani: Get some sleep now before the 'baby comes'

TOKYO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka are expecting their first child. Ohtani's Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Mookie Betts has some advice.

“He should get his sleep now,” Betts said, speaking Tuesday in Tokyo. “Because when the baby comes he won't get any.”

Betts has two children and knows from experience.

Betts, on a promotional tour for a Japanese tea brand, took only a few questions in a very brief interview session at a local hotel.

As expected, the questions were about Ohtani and rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki, who just signed with the World Series-champion Dodgers.

Both will be on display when the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs open the Major League Baseball season on March 18 and 19 in two games at the Tokyo Dome.

Betts said he'd already met with the 23-year-old Sasaki, who is being described as a “phenom” before he's even thrown a pitch in MLB. He'll join Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the Dodgers.

“Roki is really, really soft spoken,” Betts said. “You can tell that he’ll love being around Yoshi (Yamamoto) and Shohei. I think that will really help him a lot.”

Betts described Sasaki as being very reserved, which must be partly attributed to a language barrier.

“I’m going to get him out of his shell,” Betts said. “I’m going to laugh and joke and get him to really embrace the American culture. I think that will really help him to be the best pitcher on the planet. Because I think that everyone believes he can definitely be the best pitcher on the planet.”

Betts repeated what many have said about Ohtani, and gave Japanese media what they wanted to hear.

“He’s like a god,” Betts said. “His presence in the clubhouse — it's so important.”

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FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka pose together at the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation's 2024 Blue Diamond Gala, on May 2, 2024, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts speaks during a sponsor's promotional event in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts listens a question from a journalist during a sponsor's promotional event in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts speaks during a sponsor's promotional event in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts waves a he arrives for a sponsor's promotional event in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts speaks during a sponsor's promotional event in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts speaks during a sponsor's promotional event in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)