SEATTLE — If you were dropped off at T-Mobile Park this week and didn’t know it was hosting the MLB All-Star Game, you could be forgiven for guessing that Shohei Ohtani called a meeting of the brightest of baseball to determine who was worthy to become his teammate. However, this impression had little to do with Ohtani, who seemed less interested in the topic of himself than his competitors (suitors?).
You see, Ohtani plays baseball in a way that could be better described as “creating living history” than “hitting home runs” or “pitching well” or even “counting a lot of wins over substitution.” He does all of those things, of course, which is the amazing part. He leads baseball with 32 homers and a 1.050 OPS at the All-Star Break while having racked up 100 1/3 innings on the ball ERA of 3.32 as a starting pitcher.
He’s a player whose exploits have passed comparisons to Babe Ruth – not for being excessive but for failing to grasp the extent of his two-way greatness. He’s also doing those things for the ever-mediocre Los Angeles Angels right now, as the scope of his career becomes clear and a momentous decision about his future looms ever closer on the horizon.
He’s half a season away from a clean uniform and a blank check.
Ohtani is all but guaranteed to hit the open market in free agency at the end of the season. There’s a chance (albeit small and publicly downplayed) he’ll be less than a month away from switching teams in a blockbuster trade if the Angels – currently 45-46 and five games behind the last AL joker – falter. more amid a wave of injuries, including a recent major one for Mike Trout.
As it stands, there’s nothing but speculation to fuel Ohtani’s dreams in colors other than red and white, but that’s a lot when Ohtani’s game provides the heat. This week, storefronts in Seattle displayed signs and sidewalk signs reading “Free Shohei,” and Ohtani’s every move, every interaction in a sea of stellar players, every statement became a tea leaf.
Although nominally a division rival, he received the loudest standing ovation of any non-Mariners player during pre-game introductions ahead of the All-Star Game, a 3-2 win for the League. national. Before his beats, the Seattle crowd burst into crystal-clear chanting that eschewed any shyness or subtlety.
“Come to Seattle!” [clap, clap, clap clap clap]
“Come to Seattle!” [clap, clap, clap clap clap]
When Ohtani spoke to reporters after leaving the game, he sent hearts through Seattle mentioning he spent time here in the offseason.
Other players wearing All-Star uniforms this week couldn’t be so harsh with their stump speeches. Fans, after all, can’t be banged for tampering. Freddie Freeman – Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman who is rumored to be gearing up for an Ohtani chase – was mic for the FOX show during the chant, but even so he fell softly on what appears to be the party line.
“I will go with the 30 teams that would like Shohei in their team,” he said.
Without any direct appeals, other All-Stars have professed a level of respect for Ohtani’s abilities that tips over to admiration as he navigates his third season of two-way uniqueness.
Josh Jung, the Texas Rangers rookie third baseman who earned a spot on the AL team, said Monday that if he could take a skill from any baseball player for himself, he would take the ball back. power of Ohtani. Shane McClanahan, the Tampa Bay Rays ace who may have to fend off Ohtani for a Cy Young award, listed Ohtani’s sweeper as one of his most coveted throws.
Alex Cobb, the veteran San Francisco Giants starter who earned his first All-Star spot with a 2.91 ERA in 16 starts this season, gushed about his former teammate, offering an unconventional reason why Ohtani is the All-Star he most wants to face in a show setting.
“There aren’t too many situations where if you’re the pitcher on the mound and you miss, you’re expected to miss,” Cobb said. “But I feel like he owns everyone so much that if he does what he does that’s expected, but if you take him out then you’re the hero there.”
Zac Gallen, the Arizona Diamondbacks ace who started Tuesday for the NL, did just that, recording a strikeout against Ohtani. To hear him say it, it was more about self-preservation at the time.
“I mean, you had this crowd, a standing ovation, the place was going crazy,” Gallen said afterwards. “So I’m thinking, ‘Man, if I serve this guy a home run, the place is going to blow up. “”
That didn’t stop Gallen from immediately acknowledging his achievement, however.
“I threw it away,” he said of the balloon, which is meant for his coat. “They probably looked at me like, ‘What’s this guy doing?'”
Cobb faced Ohtani in round four, by the way. He gave her a walk.
Other players’ admiration for Ohtani’s mind-blowing excellence is going nowhere. This time next season, however, when the All-Star Game comes to Dallas, we’ll get a better stress test of Ohtani’s transcendence among the fans. He will inevitably have dismissed 29 teams, some more directly than others.
Will he somehow rise above the sport’s typical tribal lines, in addition to shattering the seemingly unbreakable barrier between throwing and hitting?
It’s tempting to see this as a reflection on the Angels, a team that has found a way to accommodate unprecedented individual performers without posing a real threat to its rivals. Maybe that’s it, or maybe that was it to begin with. But now, with towering homers, dominating splitters and signature expressive body language, Ohtani seems to hold the entire world of baseball in the palm of his hand.
Or, perhaps more accurately, the world of baseball holds it, grateful and struggling to comprehend the glory of a never-before-seen gem.