Yu Darvish‘s landing in the Majors wasn’t all pomp and pageantry, because it also coincided with his divorce from Japanese star Saeko.
The Texas Rangers took a costly gamble on the Japanese phenom who has showed great promise in his first year in the big leagues.
In 29 games, Darvish, 26, posted a 16-9 record, racking up 221 strikeouts while maintaining a 3.90 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.
It’s the kind of initial output that has Rangers fans optimistic about his tenure in Texas.
As for his personal life, not much is known. What we can tell you is that Darvish was married to Japanese media star, 25-year old Saeko.
Player Wives has more on the relationship that began just as abruptly as it ended.
For those not familiar with Saeko she is a movie and media darling in Japan. There are a lot of rumors as to how the two meet but it does appear everyone agrees we have ourself a case of a shotgun wedding here. After dating Saeko got pregnant and the couple married quickly on 11/11,/2007 which was picked because that is Yu‘s number. Their first child arrive just four months later, born March 25, 2008.
In January of this year, Japan Today reported the two were going through a divorce as Darvish made his transition to the United States.
The report issued Saeko would retain custody of the couple’s two children and gave the reason for the split as wanting the kids to have a more peaceful environment. Pursuit of their respective careers was also given.
Fan Daily reports the two welcomed their first child into the world in 2008 and their second back in July of 2009.
While we can’t speak to how immense Saeko‘s popularity might be in Japan, you can be certain that Darvish‘s name will be well known after the 2012 playoffs.
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