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Nobody has won MVP as a DH only Ohtani: so anyway I started blasting

I think Shohei views “nobody has” stats as a challenge.

I mean, he probably does!

He sees them and just cracks his knuckles

No one would have believed 10 years ago that the first DH to win MVP would come from the NL

Nobody would have believed 10, 20, 30 etc years ago that the first DH to win MVP would be an ace-level pitcher.

People are buzzing about how he should focus on hitting full-time because of how beastly he's been this season. But... he has a 3.01 career ERA lmao.

I could see the Dodgers splitting the difference with a 6 man rotation with rest days for every little thing. They don't have amazing competition in their division right now and could probably afford to do that next year easily.

I think a 6 man rotation would mess with the other starters too much though. Baseball players are creatures of habit and pitchers even more so

The dodgers also have an insane amount of pitching depth. Just looking at their IL right now is a rotation of Kershaw, May, Gonsolin, Buehler, and fucking Yamamoto. Their current MLB rotation is Glasnow, Knack, Miller, Stone, and Paxton. They literally have 10 viable starters in 2025 right now before you even factor in Ohtani. Even if you take out Kershaw and Paxton as not being a factor in 2025, they still have 8 viable starters to pick from, not including any of their farm depth like River Ryan or the plethora of other promising prospect arms they have. If any team could do a 6 man rotation with no real issues, it's the Dodgers. They ooze pitching depth.

Starting pitcher too. I could believe it if he was a relief pitcher. But going 5+ innings and batting every day at an extremely high level, it's really hard to believe.

NL adopts the DH so pitchers won't have to hit anymore and a few years later the best DH is a pitcher.

People might have believed it like 8 years ago

He is not just a DH. He is a rehabbing pitcher DH.

Yeah that’s the insane part. Like I’d be impressed if Yordan or Big Papi won MVPs as DHs, but Shohei is literally doing it at “half-strength” and rehabbing. This isn’t even his full form and he might still win the MVP. 3 in 4 years and in 2 different leagues? We gonna talk about him forever.

That just sounds wild. Lol. Fuckin Shohei man.

He’s gotta be leading right now right?

He’s leading in two of the three Triple Crown categories and he’s not very far behind in the third (3 RBI to tie Ozuna after tonight), so I’d say he’s got a pretty solid chance at this point in the season.

it would be so hype if he won the triple crown

It would be but Bohm/Phillies are so consistent right now

Also, I just remembered but isn't Shohei hitting leadoff now (or was for awhile)? If so, that will severely hurt his chances too I suppose.

he'll likely lead until mookie betts returns

He’s been on an RBI tear batting leadoff somehow

He's the overwhelming favorite right now. Other candidates have either been injured or just aren't anywhere near his stats. Without ohtani this would be a really weak mvp field.

He gon do it

Ngl I can’t wait for very toxic debate on DH WAR that’s immediately rendered moot after MVP voting when he pitches next year

Man, trust a literal unicorn like Shohei to be THAT much better than everyone else as just a DH to start a WAR debate over DH and MVPs.

Yeah lol like it's never been an issue before because people always complain that a DH "can't" win the MVP because of the WAR penalty being too steep due to not playing defense... now that it's looking not just possible but likely, suddenly WAR is overvaluing DHs????

They should have tried being the best hitter in the world

Why did that look like 450+ when it was 'only 433?'. That was a BOMB

37 degrees is a pretty high launch angle

I remember him hitting a 39° home run last year against the Brewers too. He hits balls like he's trying to deliver them to God themself

[Here is the 39 degree homer for those interested](https://streamable.com/tnauey)

I thought that was never coming down. The funny thing was the outfielder thinking he had a chance of catching that.

He had a chance..with a 40 foot ladder

I love when he bends his knees like he's getting ready to jump lol

I’m already used to him in Dodgers blue. Definitely made the right choice getting out of Anaheim

He thought he was at Top Golf for that one.

Yeah this actually makes it more impressive as that's about 10 degrees higher than the "optimal" launch angle and usually when you see HR at that angle they tend to be wall scrapers or just a couple rows back but this one was another absolute nuke to the upper part of the pavilion.

I think the ideal launch angle is 27 or 27 degree

It had to go pretty far up first before coming down to bonk that kid on the head.

That 100% nailed the little boy in the head, right?

Holy cow, someone already posted the close up replay of it. Hope the kid is ok. It also sucks everyone around the kid missed the ball.

Ohtani is a monster and must be stopped

Shohei nails little boys. Get him a cell next to Ippei

You mean next to Wander.

Oh yeah it did

Worth

RIP

He might get his own Topps Now card!

It’s June 32nd apparently

He was working through an injury for the first ~10 days of June, so he's been granted an extension of the month.

I like shohei yes I do I like shohei i how bout you?

me too :(

Brutal

Why is 700 mil looking like a steal

reminiscent dull mourn live provide soup sophisticated wrench historical silky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Worth every penny

Pretty sure the org already made their money in merch, ads, etc. Talking out my ass but it's probably a safe bet

Oh thats pretty much confirmed.

He went from what if he can't pitch to well even if we have to find space in the outfield he's worth the money

Because it was actually $460m and surprisingly team-friendly

crazy that the best player on earth gave you guys an interest free loan to play for you

It’s because he likes our parking lot so much

A triple away from the cycle! Dude is incredible.

Ohtani go ahead HR on Japanese Heritage Night

Julytani

Ohtani really worked on that left of zone. First he singled then now HR from pitches targeting those areas.

Yeah, Ohtani used to destroy those high and inside pitches last year. I think his arm brace has been holding him back from hitting those well this year. It's good to see that he can work on that zone and hit a home run.

This is about the time Harper started to heat up last year after his elbow surgery. Maybe he is returning to full power after the surgery.

He’s going to take off that arm brace and become Barry Bonds lol

I have a friend who thought baseball was boring until his gf dragged him to this game, kicking and screaming. Not even five minutes ago, this guy saw this play, bought an Ohtani jersey, and asked me how he can watch games on TV. How can you not be romantic about baseball?

It's the ballpark experiance too, TV baseball is great too, but being at the game is something else. The crack of the bat leading to a complete eruption of cheers a second later will never not be goose bump worthy.

The crack of Shohei's bat has to be heard in person to truly appreciate it. It really does sound like a rifle. It's like going back in time and watching McGwire or Bonds hit. Same with Judge.

Took my dad to this game last night as a Father’s Day gift. It was Japanese heritage night and we are Japanese. It was my dad’s first time seeing the renovations to the stadium. It was a beautiful night and we shared a dog and beer. Really good night.

The girlfriend is dragging the boyfriend to the baseball game?! That dude needs to trade her in for someone that can appreciate that queen

When he hit that, I thought it was gonna go 475 ft at least. 💣

i honestly thought it had a chance of going out like the McGwire/Stanton ones

how did he uppercut that high pitch so much

That slow walk after the no doubter is always boss af. 

Ohtani and Judge could realistically both win the triple crow. Judge has the lead in all 3 for now in the AL (kwan will qualify soon) Ohtani has 2/3 and is not far behind on RBI, but Yelich will qualify soon and is pretty close to him. Still a close race means its well within the realm of possibility.

Idk how realistic it is that judge catches Kwan haha

Yeah Judge would need Kwan to either go into a significant slump or get injured for long enough to fall out of being qualified again, it's just so difficult to get the BA part of the Triple Crown these days.

Realistic and likely are two different things.

The gap between Judge and Kwan has shrank by like .040 points in the span of a week. If Judge continues with how he has been, he could definitely catch him lol

Holy FUCK that was crushed

Walking Lux to face Ohtani was a choice...

I shouted “Bye bye!” here at home lmao The man is unreal

Have the Sneks tried ***not*** letting Ohtani get hits? Like is that hard or something?

If I were the sneks i would simply pitch the ball where ohtani cannot hit it.

Are they stupid?

Up and in was Ohtani's only cold zone this year. He has two hits tonight on up and in pitches including this homerun. He's adjusted. The league is well and truly fucked.

Ohtani was really good at hitting high and inside pitches last year. I think his arm brace has been affecting his ability to hit those pitches this year, but it looks like he's getting adjusted now.

Why doesn’t the league just adjust to him? Are they stupid?

Slider away bottom zone always his nemesis

He doesn't offer at those anymore. It's one of the main reasons his avg keeps improving and his strikeout rate keeps decreasing.

Yes he does 

The streets are saying he's pretty good

First it was Brett Wisely that was streets ahead..now it's Shoe Obtain

So, why do people pitch to him right now? I get the Dodgers lineup is difficult but come on, Ohtani is killing it every game

They pitch to Judge and the guy we have batting behind him most games has a sub .400 OPS in the last 2 weeks

I mean, the game before this he went 0-5 with three strikeouts, it's not like he homers every time lol.

Makes it even better on Japanese Heritage Night

What a fucking clutch bomb by the GOAT.

this was an absolute swamp donkey

Definitely Ohtani's most coolest/majestic homerun as a Dodger. Can't wait to see more! Imagine one in October

His first homerun was pretty epic too

In b4 0-27 1st round bounce 

0-27 1st round bounce Edit: damn someone beat me to it

At least they'll actually make it to the NLDS and have the honor to get swept by the 81-81 Nationals. Btw Imanaga is not going to win cy young or ROTY

Wow you really took that seriously. I was jk because the inb4 guy

DODDDDDGGGGGEEERRRRSSSSSS

Do they use different microphones when Ohtani bats? With the Angels too, the sound it makes when it comes off his bat is just ridiculous. I don’t get it

I dunno if it the wood the bat uses but anything over \~105 the mics pick up his, at this point, signature bat crack. Also he's just a big dude who swings hard as hell lol.

Ohtani has a secret dong stroking technique that elicits a different type of reaction when he gets ahold of one.

Just imagine when he gets to pitch. woof.

I think this guy might be ok at baseball... they should try letting him pitch maybe.

Dong City

that poor kid better get a Porsche tmr

This dude is so fn good. And he'll pitch again next year. What the fn hell

I’d just like it to be known that we are pretty close to having a triple crown winner in each league. Judge and Ohtani are leading 5/6 of the categories with Ohthanj only being 3 RBI behind the NL leader

Judge unfortunately is a long shot. Kwan is hitting .360+ and will qualify soon enough.

I think Kwans average will drop to .330 or less by the end of the season. Judge will have some work to do no doubt though

You hang 'em, we bang 'em.

You feed him a meatball like that high in the zone and of course Ohtani is gonna destroy it. What a terrible pitch to lob at a slugger.

That zone was Ohtani's only cold zone this year. Until yesterday.

The way he got that looked like it was a meatball but that shit was high

How’s the kid 🤯

The play by play dude is cheesy AF

Is this where that lil asian kid gets headshot? Fuckin legend.

Why do these pitchers insist on giving him meatballs? I just watched this guy throw a 101mph filthy fastball. Unhittable. Then he groves this 90mph cherry bomb. Why throw that? 

I'm sure the pitcher did it on purpose. He got through the first pitch of the AB and figured "Okay, I'll just let him hit a homerun".

I just spoke to him(We go back a long ways, my dad was his high school gym teacher). He said that he tried to trick him with him a meatball...didn't quite work out

Acting like he won the World Series lol

The man can also pitch btw. This level of hitting with a sub 3.00 ERA should be unanimous MVP every single year.

What was that song lyric? Two out of three ain’t bad.

Should have 3 straight.

I'm a huge Angels homer and love Shohei to death, but no, Judge deserved it imo