ANAHEIM, Calif. — As he prepared to make his first at-bat in the first inning Tuesday, fans greeted him with a standing ovation. When he lined a ball down the right-field line two innings later, chants of “MVP” greeted him as he reached third base. And when he was intentionally walked in the 10th inning — clearing the way for Mookie Betts’ game-breaking three-run homer the next day, setting up the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-2 victory — the largest crowd of the season at Angel Stadium roared.

Shohei Ohtani received a warm welcome during his first official game in Anaheim, apart from some boos.

It helped that at least half of the 44,731 in attendance were Dodgers fans who had made the 30-mile trip south.

“As a player, I feel very supported and grateful for all the fans that are there for me, for the team,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “It makes a difference that they are here.”

As an Angel, the organization he chose after being drafted by virtually every major team in Japan, Ohtani won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2018 and later capitalized on his promise as a two-way phenom, winning a unanimous two-man MVP and would have won a third if not for Aaron Judge’s 62-home run season from 2021-23, during which Ohtani easily led the majors with 26.1 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement.

The Angels never sniffed the playoffs during Ohtani’s six-year tenure. But they gave him the ability to pitch and hit at the same time like no one had since Babe Ruth, and prominent people within the organization believed his loyalty to the Angels would give them a legitimate shot at re-signing him in free agency.

But when Ohtani and the Dodgers put together the framework of a 10-year, $700 million deal that included $680 million in deferred payments, the Angels — under longtime owner Arte Moreno, who typically doesn’t hand out deferrals — refused to match. Whether he would have returned if they had is a question that could forever remain a matter of speculation, and one that Ohtani declined to answer when asked by reporters Monday in Phoenix.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts never felt the Angels were a threat last offseason.

“I don’t think they were involved in the conversation,” Roberts said. “Of course there was a lot of rumor. They could have been involved in the conversation, but I never got wind of it. It could have been secret. But Shohei said they didn’t make him an offer, so I don’t think they were involved in the conversation.”

Roberts said he believes Tuesday’s game — technically Ohtani’s second back at Angel Stadium, if you count March’s exhibition Freeway Series — offered “closure,” but mostly for the fans. He feels like Ohtani has largely moved on. His transition to the Dodgers, Roberts said, has been “pretty smooth” — despite the pressures of a mega-contract, the gambling scandal that engulfed his former interpreter and the challenge of balancing his responsibilities as a designated hitter with his rehabilitation as a pitcher.

“It’s just the way he is,” Roberts said of Ohtani. “I think some people are pretty emotional about things and some people are just really unemotional. He’s just simplistic in that sense. It’s part of his past and a big part of his life, but I don’t think he thinks about it anymore. I think he’s more of a progressive person.”

Ohtani didn’t add 44 home runs or 46 stolen bases on Tuesday, but he’s still well on his way to becoming the first 50-50 player in baseball history. If he can hold off New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, he’ll become the first full-time DH to win an MVP and join Barry Bonds as the only players to win back-to-back MVPs with different teams.

His return here Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of his last game in an Angels uniform and also qualified as the first meaningful September game he had ever played at the ballpark. The Angels, who played a video tribute to Ohtani in March, honored his return only with a video message listing his accomplishments as he walked to the batter’s box for his first at-bat. For a brief moment, his name read, “Worked here,” as he stepped up to bat in the fifth inning.

He certainly did.

“The biggest part of all of this is actually being able to play in this stadium in front of the Anaheim fans,” Ohtani said. “That was the part that was special for me.”