March 24, 2026 / 5:19 PM PDT / CBS LA
It was a race to the finish for artist Robert Vargas as he put the final touches on the world's largest Dodgers mural honoring the Japanese players who were integral to the team's ninth World Series title.
After putting the crowning details on his piece, Vargas and the city of Torrance unveiled the "Samurai of the Diamond," which features the superstar pitchers Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
Vargas said his mural had to be in Torrance.
"Seeing heroes that look like us, whether they're coming from Asia or down south," Vargas said. "It's important to show that heroes come in all shapes and sizes."
The Samurai of the Diamond honors the Dodgers three Japanese superstars, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani. CBS LA
Mayor George Chen said about 1 in 10 citizens in Torrance are of Japanese heritage.
"The highest concentration in Japanese Americans in the 48 contiguous states," he said.
From the farm laborers who arrived at the turn of the last century to the shop owners who settled after World War II internment to the corporations that built their U.S. headquarters in the 1990s, Japanese culture courses through Torrance's veins.
"Just about every place you go, you'll see fingerprints of the Japanese culture here," Chen said.
As soon as Ohtani and Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers, Torrance officially became friendship cities with the players' hometowns, Oshu and Bizen, in Japan.
They've held many cultural exchanges, including youth baseball games coached by Ohtani's father, Toru Ohtani.
Vargas said he enjoyed the 10 days he spent painting the bumpy wall of the DoubleTree Torrance, calling it a fun challenge.
"It's been exciting flattening this surface, making this come to life," he said.
Vargas freehanded the entire piece, refraining from using grids or projections.
"I've always had a great sense of space," he said. "It's all freehand brushwork. As I'm brushing along, I really kind of just imagine it from my third eye across the street."
The artist hopes the massive mural inspires locals. Like his Ohtani mural in Little Tokyo, the Samurai of the Diamond has an augmented-reality component. Visitors can scan a QR code and see the players come to life.
Vargas unveiled Ohtani's mural in 2024, followed by another honoring Fernando Valenzuela in 2025, both years when the Dodgers won the World Series.
He hopes his latest piece brings the team a bit of good luck while they try to become the first franchise in nearly 30 years to win three consecutive titles.
"We're going for a three-peat and what better way to memorialize that than to paint all three?" Vargas said.