ANAHEIM, CA — I do not want to dampen Shohei Ohtani’s feat of a 6 for 6, 3 home run, and 10 RBI game, but I have to disagree with people who are calling it the greatest game ever played by a player in the history of baseball. Ohtani had an amazing game, stat-wise, but was it the greatest game ever?
6-FOR-6
THREE HOME RUNS
10 RUNS BATTED INSHOHEI OHTANI HAVE MERCY 馃く pic.twitter.com/VMJp9OqgjZ
— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2024
Just my opinion, but it was a game against the team with the worst record in the National League. The first four pitchers he faced have a combined ERA of 5.06, and his third home run was off of a non-pitcher Vidal Bruj谩n, San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, an infielder, who served up a 68.3mph, belt-high, middle-of-the-plate meatball that Shohei hit 440-feet into the right-center field seats. My granddaughter faces pitchers who throw harder than that in 14-year-old softball!
Shohei Ohtani, you are amazing.
— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2024
So, what player had a better game? How about Don Larsen, who pitched a perfect game no-hitter against one of the best-hitting teams of that era, the Brooklyn Dodgers? Oh, by the way, it was game 5 of the World Series on October 8, 1956, in front of 64,519 fans in Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers had five position players in the lineup that day who are now enshrined in Cooperstown’s Baseball Players Hall Of Fame. I do not see any Marlins players on their current roster with a shot of making it to the HOF. Larsen faced 27 batters and retired them all in two hours and six minutes that day with a final score of 2-0.
Ohtani is a unique player who can hit, hit for power, steal bases, and is a top ten pitcher in the major leagues, and he can carry a team when he has support. I say that because in six years with the Angels and Mike Trout as a teammate, the Angels never had a winning season. With 159 strikeouts this season, he can not carry the Dodgers alone, just like his years with the Angels. He is a great player, no doubt about it. He is the first MLB player ever to go 50-50 in a given season. But the hype around this guy is beyond anything we have ever seen.
Shohei Ohtani has 52 home runs, 53 stolen bases, and 122 RBI in the 2024 season – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
The Dodgers are and will continue to make billions because of his presence in LA. Good for them; they can use the money. Just stop with the extra extraordinary hype and labeling him as the player who had “The Greatest Game Ever.”
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Julio
September 23, 2024 at 2:06 am
Congratulations on an excellent article breaking up the myth that the NY Times article promoted in their article “The Greatest Baseball Game Ever By A Player.” The details you provided that the NY Times article omitted makes for a compelling counter point of view about the titlee of that article. Taking nothing away from Ohtani, but “The Greatest Baseball Game Ever By A Player”, no way.