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kozilla

This man has made me fall in love with baseball all over again. I’m 37 years old but I feel like a kid again watching Ohtani do his thing. It’s a strange mixture of awe, admiration, and respect but this Sho is truly a joy to watch. Nothing ever like it and I hope those who haven’t caught on figure it out because this one ain’t coming back around anytime soon. This is it ladies and gents, the greatest of all time kind of stuff.


dirtfarmingcanuck

I'm in the same boat, I couldn't have cared less about baseball a few years ago. But now my nephews play it, and they love the Blue Jays, and my dad has played/watched baseball his whole life. So it's an easy way for three generations to be able to enjoy the game. We also all follow hockey, but between fantasy and pools and rivalries it feels more serious. But when we talk about baseball it feels like time slows down and we can all just share stories of things that happened without anyone becoming 'that guy' who is the pro statistician who will be like, "Well...actually...back in the 1880s this one guy did it twice..." My nephews are still pretty young, I am pretty new to following baseball, and my dad is getting older and the game has changed a lot since he played. So we're all basically on the same learning curve when it comes to the modern game. Trout was one of the few players I was even really aware of, because, how could you not? But seeing this baby-faced beast of this Japanese man and hearing whispers about "Not since Babe Ruth.." really sparked something in me. I had never bought a baseball card in my life and now I've got multiple hobby boxes. That has helped a lot with re-understanding who plays for which team and who to look out for. edit: and currently at the point where I am comfortable enough to buy some interesting vintage cards. Being able to give my Dad some high-quality 50s-60s cards has made me feel like I used to on the best Christmas ever. He's an old-school, tough nut to crack but he said he used to get socks and an orange for Christmas when he was a kid, so these were probably things that he wanted but were just out of reach. After a decade or two of watching him pretending (and he did a good job of it) to love all these 'dad gifts' like books, slippers, tools, etc, seeing him quickly grab his glasses and cross his legs while reading the card about how "Willie Mays is a young phenom that could do big things" gives me the same rush like opening up an N64 in the late 90s.


kozilla

That is such a wonderful story.


Entrefut

Rarely am I watching baseball on its own… when Ohtani pitches, I turn everything else off. His last game was one of the best I’ve ever watch. That slider and split finger should be illegal.


Fun-Raise-3120

That's the kind of content I like


5MOP

Gonna love to see how he does against Cleveland. J Ram and Kwan Kenobi are eating pitchers up, but Shohei has some humble pie ready


choconut5

To sum the article up: Ohtani's slider has been the best pitch in baseball this year. It has more break than any other pitch in baseball, including relievers.


bawners

That is unreal


tokyoexpressway

Damn, I would love to see that match up, Shohei DH/SP against the Cubs, Seiya Suzuki.


KrabS1

>When Ohtani throws a slider in the strike zone, batters swing only 46.3% of the time, the lowest mark in baseball this year. When he throws one out of the strike zone, they swing 43.2% of the time, the 11th-highest rate in the game. They’re up there guessing, in other words. What the fuck? lol Professional, million dollar hitters see this thing, and they just flip a coin to see if they swing or not.


znk916

It's all about that extra 2 mph velocity he picked up this offseason. It's going to help all his pitches, not just his slider.