Shohei Ohtani gets 10 strikeouts and three home runs in single game to secure World Series spot

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i don't follow baseball, and seen his name pop up a few times everyone saying he's a good fellow. But had no idea he was actually GOAT
 
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I know fuck all about baseball. But the sensation of the ball hitting the bat just right for a home run must be incredibly satisfying.
 
i don't follow baseball, and seen his name pop up a few times everyone saying he's a good fellow. But had no idea he was actually GOAT
I don't watch or follow it either, but even i said damn reading the title.

I love how the homers break up the pitching in that compilation. It's like he's rubbing their faces it in by showing how "easy" it is to smash the ball and then it's just strike...strike...strike.
 
Especially given the context (a deciding game of a postseason series), I'd venture to say it's one of the greatest single-game performances in all of sports history. Simply incredible.

Fun factoid though - on 6/23/71, Rick Wise of the Phillies threw a no-hitter and also hit 2 home runs. It was against an awful Reds team in a regular season game, so it doesn't quite compare, but I was surprised to hear something similar had happened before.
 
to help understand japanese baseball


everything involving japan and baseball is insane, Mr.Ohtani might play in the US, but he's a product of this system
 
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I know fuck all about baseball. But the sensation of the ball hitting the bat just right for a home run must be incredibly satisfying.
I think hitting a round ball with a round bat and making it go where you want it while someone is throwing it 100 mph is the hardest thing to do in sports

This is what it looks like to the hitter, watching on TV is very misleading on how easy it looks

 
also I think he had a major arm surgery like 1-2 years ago, and was in a not so strong spot for a while, so him managing to come back from that and do this is pretty neat.
 
I think hitting a round ball with a round bat and making it go where you want it while someone is throwing it 100 mph is the hardest thing to do in sports

This is what it looks like to the hitter, watching on TV is very misleading on how easy it looks


Just the numbers behind it are bonkers,
.4 seconds to make a decision and act on it, about the same amount of time as blinking
 
I think hitting a round ball with a round bat and making it go where you want it while someone is throwing it 100 mph is the hardest thing to do in sports

This is what it looks like to the hitter, watching on TV is very misleading on how easy it looks


I actually think that camera angle makes it look faster than it is. It actually looks like it's "speeding up" as it crosses the plate because of the way the camera lens distorts the image. The ball loses about 10% of its speed by the time it's crossed the plate. It's similar to tennis where a 120 mph serve takes under half a second to get to you, and the distance in the court is a bit longer than a mound to home plate, and some of those pros can serve over 150 mph. But if you watch court level camera views it (again) looks like the ball is gaining speed as it gets close to you. It often makes the game look super human, but it's just not the case. For those who actually play there is nothing outrageous going on in any of this. Yeah these guys are the best of the best but they are still just normal people with normal human faculties.

That said, hitting a 100mph pitch has to be one of the toughest things in sports. Coming back to tennis, returning certain serves that are basically impossible to even get a racquet on has to be up there. But then again a bat is much smaller hitting surface than a tennis racquet.
 
Amazing performance but I'm still chapped over the yankees losing to them in a series that should have been closer than what it was without Boone putting in a guy who hadn't pitched for a month in Game 1 and the comedy of errors in Game 5 i think it was. I'm not saying the Yankees would have WON but it easily could been NY up 3-2.

I was kinda glad Shohei had done nothing in the playoffs before that game.

He is such a unicorn. A 6'4" Japanese guy who is fast, hits twice as well as any other Japanese import before him who is also an ace pitcher. HOW DO YOU EXIST?? I've seen a lot of japanese pro wrestlers that tall who aren't coordinated for shit.
 
Amazing performance but I'm still chapped over the yankees losing to them in a series that should have been closer than what it was without Boone putting in a guy who hadn't pitched for a month in Game 1 and the comedy of errors in Game 5 i think it was. I'm not saying the Yankees would have WON but it easily could been NY up 3-2.

I was kinda glad Shohei had done nothing in the playoffs before that game.

He is such a unicorn. A 6'4" Japanese guy who is fast, hits twice as well as any other Japanese import before him who is also an ace pitcher. HOW DO YOU EXIST?? I've seen a lot of japanese pro wrestlers that tall who aren't coordinated for shit.

He's pretty much an anime/manga character in real life.
 
I don't follow baseball but he is undeniably the "Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, etc" of his time and sport.

Absolutely a legend.
 
I think hitting a round ball with a round bat and making it go where you want it while someone is throwing it 100 mph is the hardest thing to do in sports

This is what it looks like to the hitter, watching on TV is very misleading on how easy it looks


Really more what it looks like to an umpire... but I mean a lot of the time they can't even figure out whether the ball was in the strike zone even after the fact :messenger_tears_of_joy:

To be fair though, in real life the batter gets depth perception on account of binocular vision.
 
His $700 million dollar contract is almost a steal for the Dodgers. A legit pitcher blessed with absurd power and speed.

In fact - it's literally a steal of a lifetime for the Dodgers - $68 million of his $70 million per year salary is deferred. It's apparently Shohei's idea to defer that much of his Salary as well. He's likely making more than a healthy amount off endorsements and other opportunities as well.

From 2034 to 2043 he'll be paid $68 million dollars per year.


Get the rings now, give his team cap room to sign other players. Meanwhile the Dodgers popularity skyrockets globally thanks to Ohtani being a once in a lifetime level of player.

I gave up watching baseball a long time ago, but seeing what's happening now got me tuned back in.

Bonus - hilarious reaction from ESPN Milwaukee.

 
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it wasn't one of the best performances in baseball. it was THE best performance in baseball. homerun #2 cleared the entire Dodger Stadium.

it might be the best performance of any sport but that's debatable.
 
I think hitting a round ball with a round bat and making it go where you want it while someone is throwing it 100 mph is the hardest thing to do in sports

This is what it looks like to the hitter, watching on TV is very misleading on how easy it looks


On top of that with Ohtani, he has filthy offspeed pitches on top of his fastball. His splitter hits 90mph while dropping like a rock and his sweeper has nasty horizontal movement.
 
Even to a complete amateur, that sounds like an incredible performance by Ohtani. I just have to wonder how fucked up their shoulders/arms get after years of pitching at those speeds.
 
Even to a complete amateur, that sounds like an incredible performance by Ohtani. I just have to wonder how fucked up their shoulders/arms get after years of pitching at those speeds.
exactly why they took him out after 6 scoreless innings and 10 strike outs. he could have kept going but the Dodgers have him on contract for 10 more years.
 
Even to a complete amateur, that sounds like an incredible performance by Ohtani. I just have to wonder how fucked up their shoulders/arms get after years of pitching at those speeds.
I never hit 100 mph but could stay in the low 90s to mid 90s when it was needed

That said I have had around 13 actual surgeries on my shoulder and wrist and 5 minor procedures trying to get better quality of life (more movement with less pain)

I am now 58 years old and will never actually throw a Baseball again and it takes some time every day to get my shoulder loosened up to function well enough to do every day tasks

Taking into account a 10 year MLB career and 3 years in the Minors, a couple of years of college and all the years of High School down to little league all that stress adds up as no telling how many baseballs I have thrown
 
Always fun to watch a huge "what if" in the sports world.



realistically, highly unlikely since he's in his 30's and have probably never played. But a guy that size with that kind of arm, running speed, and athleticism does make you think what could have been.

Not AI from what I can tell - Ohtani really did visit the Rams last year.
 
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Dude is literally a protagonist of this OP Shonen Yakyuu manga (or his genius rival). Amazing talent.
I mean, those type of talent - he would probably have played as team ace pitcher + 4th batter throughout his school days.
What's amazing, though- is that MLS or many renowned pro leagues are probably full of those type of people to begin with, but only few can extend their status like that.
 
Dude is literally a protagonist of this OP Shonen Yakyuu manga (or his genius rival). Amazing talent.
I mean, those type of talent - he would probably have played as team ace pitcher + 4th batter throughout his school days.
What's amazing, though- is that MLS or many renowned pro leagues are probably full of those type of people to begin with, but only few can extend their status like that.
He is an insane talent but I will add MOST pitchers through their school days even into college are usually the best athletes or I should say coaches at early ages get their best athletes to pitch and usually those guys are the best hitters as well
 
Always fun to watch a huge "what if" in the sports world.



realistically, highly unlikely since he's in his 30's and have probably never played. But a guy that size with that kind of arm, running speed, and athleticism does make you think what could have been.

Not AI from what I can tell - Ohtani really did visit the Rams last year.

Video doesn't appear to be working but I'm assuming from context the question is about Ohtani as a QB? I'm sure the measurables are all there. But the kind of mental load that an NFL QB is under just doesn't exist in baseball. You really have to be a pro gamer.
 
I know nothing of baseball, but saw his name EVERYWHERE when I recently visited Japan. Like.. I couldn't walk 20 feet without seeing his name/face.
 
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