Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers take center stage on Thursday as Major League Baseball's new season gets under way on US soil against the backdrop of a gambling scandal that has engulfed its brightest star.The results however were a footnote to the scandal that erupted around Ohtani after his longtime friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was accused of swindling him out of millions of dollars to pay off gambling debts.