Shohei Ohtani Is The GOAT

Shohei Ohtani might be too good. Or at least too good for his own good. Or too good for his own popularity. Because as popular as the dude is, he is not nearly popular enough. And as much credit as he gets, he doesn’t get nearly enough credit.

Probably because he’s so great, it’s actually hard to talk about his greatness. He’s so consistently incredible that it gets old and repetitive calling him incredible. But the reality is, the greatest baseball player of all time is in his prime right now. And he’s playing right up the road at the Big A. And he might have just had his best game ever last night. And this is not some look at me lava take for social media. It’s the opposite actually, it's just the truth. And it couldn't be more obvious.

I don’t want to put words in Babe Ruth’s mouth… but even Babe Ruth would admit it. Even Babe Ruth would look at what Shohei Ohtani did last night and say… I couldn’t do that. Or at least… he never did that. Babe Ruth never struck out 10 and hit two bombs in the same game. 

I have no idea how five other guys have actually pulled it off, but only five other dudes in the history of the sport have ever done what Shohei did last night. And as always, the incredible thing is this was not some kind of crazy one-off outlier performance. The man is hitting .407 as a starting pitcher this year. He's raking in every single start.

Like don't get me wrong, I’m extremely impressed with Luis Arraez legitimately chasing .400 this deep into June. But I gotta be honest, arguably the most dominant pitcher in baseball hitting .407 on days he starts is more impressive. A lot more impressive.

And here’s the other thing about Shohei, it’s tempting to just blast a pile of stats at you. And I don’t want to do that, because at some point, they lose all meaning. But if I don’t, a bunch of you will say he’s overrated and it’s all hype and I SOUND LIKE A HOMER and other nonsense like that. A bunch of you will say that, because a bunch of you aren’t watching this dude play. 

And I have to make sure you trolls realize that Shohei now leads the Major Leagues, not just the AL, but the Majors, in: home runs. RBIs. OPS. Slugging percentage. Extra base hits. And total bases. OH… AND ALSO… opponent batting average.

So he’s the best hitter in baseball and also the hardest pitcher to get a hit off of in baseball. And he might have just had his best game ever to cap his best month ever.

Dude just put up a 13 bomb, 37 strikeout month, and the month isn't even over. That has never been done. The only other player to ever have one 13 bomb month and another 37 strikeout month, at any point in their career… is Babe Ruth. But Babe never had a month like the June Shohei is having. Nobody has ever had a month like the June Shohei is having.

And nobody has ever had a career like the career Shohei is in the middle of. Which is why as big a deal as he is, he’s not nearly big enough. And as much as I talk about him, I don’t talk about him nearly enough. Shohei deserves his own Shohei Show. Hell, Shohei week. Shohei should get his own season in the Jungle once Smackoff season wraps up. Dude should get the profile treatment every day, because he deserves it.

I didn’t even mention yet that he hit his second bomb last night after he got yanked off the mound with a cracked fingernail. And you might be saying PSHT PLEASE a cracked fingernail? Is he gonna get a Mickey Mouse band aid for his boo boo too? Yeah, tough guys, that’s also what Shohei said, because he stayed in the game and went up to the plate and blasted one out to the oppo power alley. 

He pulled a bomb. He went oppo with a bomb. He had a third hit. He struck out ten. He got the win. And then he made the most polite, most reasonable request ever after the game.

Shohei went all: hey Big A ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? Tell em Shohei. Tell them all they need to be louder, because they do. Everyone needs to get louder about this dude. 

By the way, anyone who wants him to answer in English, or take a run at him for his translator… first of all… shut up. Second of all, fine, I’ll make you a deal: you can talk crap about Shohei using an interpreter when… and only when… YOU go to Japan. And establish YOURSELF as the best athlete ever in ANY sport. And then YOU learn Japanese and then YOU do a live TV interview in front of an entire stadium, in Japanese. Once one of you does that, then I’ll let you circle back and run some Shohei smack. But until then, shut up.

And if you’re lucky enough to be at an Angels game right now, just watch the game. Just watch the GOAT. Is that really asking too much? Don’t be like this drunk clown who went viral on Twitter trying to start the wave just before Shohei hit his second bomb.

Yeah that wasn’t the sound of people excited about the wave, that was the sound of people trying to see a historic home run while some fat drunk moron standing in front of them blocking the view was trying to start the wave. Guys… the wave is so lame. There could not be a dumber or more childish adult activity than doing the wave at a baseball game. To steal from Himmy Buckets… don’t do that.

Don’t do that ever, but especially not when Shohei is at the plate. Don’t be this guy, this guy with his back to home plate screaming about the wave while the GOAT is making history. What a disgrace.

This is all so simple and we’re making it so hard. Just watch the dude. Enjoy the Sho while you can. And give him his bleeping credit, for real.

You don’t have to come with some contrarian take, it doesn’t make you look smart, it makes you look the opposite of smart. If you still don't get it, you're never gonna get it. But just understand, that's a YOU problem. Because this man is most definitely the GOAT. 

And don't look now, but the GOAT is single handedly carrying the Angels into Wild Card contention. In fact, the Angels would be in the playoffs if the season ended today! They have a better record than the Astros! They have the same number of wins as the Dodgers! And there is one reason for that... it's because the Angels are lucky enough to have the greatest baseball player of all time. At least for now.