I think that right now, we're in a period where there's multiple people in the MLB that could be considered among the all-time greats, and I think it occasionally gets taken for granted. Right now Aaron Judge is sporting an unbelievable stat line, Paul Skenes is more dominant than most pitchers have ever been through a year in the league, and Clayton Kershaw is still pitching 17 years after making his debut. It has been years since it's felt like so much history was happening at once in this league. Maybe the late 90s had a taste of that, probably the 60s had that more consistently. But the 2020s have seen the Acuna 40/70 season, the Judge 62 season, that Skenes rookie campaign and...well, Ohtani's 50/50 season. And I get the sense that when this decade is up, the guy who'll have done the most, and been the most important player to carry into the history books, is Shohei Ohtani.
It's been a while since somebody has felt like appointment television like Ohtani has. Even Judge will have quiet games here and there. Ohtani will make news just by existing. So far this season, he has 17 home runs, the NL lead, 53 runs, the league lead, a .302 average, 31 RBIs and a 1.040 OPS. People have compared his stats with his stats around this time last year, and he's already looking to outdo his 2024 marks, which were already insane. He has 11 steals and 17 homers, meaning 30/30 is within reach and further than that...may also be a possibility. And he's doing this while playing for one of the best teams in the NL, where plenty of other great players can also be the hero and the acclaim is spread out equally. The feeling of being a part of a team that's as good as he is, where the work can be spread around, is ideal for Ohtani. He's one of those hard-working types who just wants to get better every day and doesn't have the ego thing, Ichiro was kind of like that to a degree [though Ichiro was a bit more flamboyant].
It's also worth keeping in mind that already, in the US, Ohtani has accumulated 242 home runs [meaning 300+ by the end of his career is very achievable, a 46.3 WAR [meaning 60+ is a possibility, especially between pitching and hitting WAR], and will very soon have his 600th RBI [meaning 1000 is very possibly a thing that could happen]. And for the record, taking his Japanese stats into account, Ohtani has 290 homers, meaning his 300th worldwide will happen this season. And he's only 30, and he's got plenty of LA seasons to go.
Here's how you can tell this is otherworldly- I do have a desire to watch Ohtani play live, somehow. I was able to catch Ichiro live, I was able to see a Verlander start, I was able to watch a Rivera save, and I've seen countless Judge homers. I want to see a game Ohtani plays in. Just to say I did.
The Dodgers continue to roll through, ahead of the Giants by a couple games but staying on their toes against the Mets. Kershaw is back and limiting his exertion but still himself. Betts is on a tear, Pages is still surging, Yamamoto's still the staff ace and Freeman's still in peak form. They may go deep again, and Ohtani may do even more in October. And I think we're all lucky to see it.
Coming Tonight: Someone who very thankfully got out of Denver yesterday without having to say they dropped two games to the worst team in the majors.
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