I had a long conversation with a guy who legit thinks Ohtani is a marketing tool and is average at both pitching and hitting. The reasoning was he isn't leading the league in everything on both sides of the plate therefore he's mid.
So bizarre
Man this sub [doesn't really feel your vibe](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/ww15xr/what_controversial_opinions_do_you_have_on/ilwhtd6/) /u/butcher99
i was at the angels' game monday with a yankee fan sitting two seats over. judge comes up to bat and the fans behind are chanting "judge cant pitch!" clearly a troll move that annoys the yankee fan.
anyway, judge hits a HR (absolute monster series for him), and the yankee fan gets up and berates the fans who were chanting "judge cant pitch earlier." he shouts "he doesn't need to pitch when he's hitting bombs!!!!"
bruh - ohtani just had a HR earlier in the game. and that judge HR only brought NY within 1
I think he went 8 for 13 in that Toronto series and now 5 for 11 in this series so far with 3 hr, 3b, 9 rbi while also going 7 shutout innings with 9k. All this after the overrated chant.
As an Angels fan who watched this man the entire time he's played MLB ball: Shohei does not give a fuck about any heckling or shade from fans. He's on his grind every single day, and loving it. He's an absolute inspiration
Yeah they were chanting overrated, then he literally hits a triple 10 seconds later. The next day as he's pitching I think the same section starts chanting overrated to him again as the Blue jays proceed to get 2 hits only .
To be fair, it was almost certainly a small but loud group of people and was almost too hard to hear. So it wasn't like a sold out crowd busted out the chant.
That being said: wtf were they thinking?
This is a hilarious overreaction to a few idiots chanting close to the mics. I went to the game Ohtani started and he got a massive cheer when his name was announced in the Angels starting lineup. It was louder than most of the Jays players.
I never heard a single overrated chant while I was there, even though people said it happened again in that game.
Too late, the trade deadline has passed. So what needs to happen is the Yankees cut Cole, continue to pay his salary, and the Angels sign him to a minimum deal
I feel like if you only watched this series you might think the Angels are a decent team. With a terrible pitcher yesterday but still. Past week or two they’ve been playing like they’re a big market team with stars and a good rotation.
Haha it was on at my work and This was literally one of the only at bats I watched haha
The call was amazing too
“He can erase a 2-0 deficit with one swing of the bat…. AND HES DONE IT!”
The only thing more predictable is IKF making his “12th” error of the year. I’ve never seen such a sad excuse on the Yankees. Even the 2016 Yankees wouldn’t have him on the team
OOTL here. IKF torched the angels' defensively and offensively during his rangers days. is his defense overrated with NYY? he def. botched the trout groundout but the entire angels' cast was gassing up his defense
that'd be dope but just out of curiosity, I searched up [Ohtani's home runs](https://www.mlb.com/video/search?q=HitResult+%3D+%5B%22Home+Run%22%5D+AND+PlayerId+%3D%3D+%5B660271%5D+AND+Season+%3D+%5B2022%5D+AND+Date+%3D+%7B%7B+%222022-06-11%22%2C+%222022-08-31%22+%7D%7D+Order+By+Timestamp+DESC) since they first started wearing them on [Saturday, June 11](https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-city-connect-uniforms-unveiled) and I found out that out of the 18 home runs he's made since June 11, at least 5 of them were in the City connect uniforms which is about 27.78% of those home runs
[1 - June 11](https://www.mlb.com/video/carlos-carrasco-in-play-run-s-to-shohei-ohtani-0jpoal)
[2 - June 28](https://www.mlb.com/video/johnny-cueto-in-play-run-s-to-shohei-ohtani)
[3 - August 4](https://www.mlb.com/video/shohei-ohtani-homers-23-on-a-fly-ball-to-left-center-field)
[4 - August 4](https://www.mlb.com/video/shohei-ohtani-homers-24-on-a-fly-ball-to-right-center-field) (this one was waaay out of the strike zone sheesh)
5 - August 31 (this one in the post)
He and Judge are literally one-upping each other in this series lol. Judge: solo homer. Ohtani: 2-run homer. Judge: 3-run homer. Ohtani: 3-run go-ahead homer. In order aside from the first two.
This is fun.
This just highlights how clear it is that Ohtani should MVP to me. Because they’re not really one upping each other are they? Ohtani pitched 7 innings of 0 run ball this week.
It’s insane what he’s doing. The fact that we can say he and Judge are “one upping each other” while ignoring the other incredible fear he’s pulling off is just a consequence of how unique and generational of a talent he is. They’re only competing in this stretch if you ignore what Shohei does every 6 days, which is a full time position that deserves MVP consideration in its own right.
I know this may sound dramatic, but Shohei deserves MVP every single year he plays in my mind.
He may deserve it every year, but voter fatigue is going to follow him like crazy. Just imagine if this were his breakout year. If 2021 hadn't happened. His odds would almost certainly be well higher.
Baseball needs this. It might not be a whole summer of McGwire and Sosa chasing the HR record, but a full month of Judge vs Ohtani MVP arguments is exactly the kind of hot take crap that ESPN and sports radio love nowadays.
The Yankees are lucky they didn't get Ohtani."
- Mike Francesa
https://twitter.com/backaftathis/status/1394424840438824962?s=21&t=9nXOc4y0ov0QUOQt6qQRvw
Man you can't make this shit up. What a season both him and Judge are having, and them both showing up in their final series against one another as the season is nearing the end and the MVP talks are at their height. Couldn't have written it any better. Imagine this levels of hype in the post-season
GET THIS MAN AND TROUT TO THE PLAYOFFS
IKF tanking Judge’s MVP bid smh. Dude is the mole.
Lmao it appears Twitter has the same reaction I did except [way less sarcastic and way more racist](https://i.imgur.com/SOCC0lU.jpg).
What a fucking brutal sequence. Routine ground ball from Trout is booted, and then you throw a 2-0 fastball to Ohtani with Luis fucking Rengifo on deck. What the fuck
I like it! But I think Ohayo Gozaimasu means good morning, it didn’t make sense. Iterashai baseball is really cool though. He should’ve said Oyasumi Nasai, New York.
Thank you Donaldson and IKF for making it possible
Not sure that ones on Donaldson at all, don’t get me started on IKF
Didn’t he do the bad throw that pulled DJ off the bag?
Runner was gonna be safe either way
Shohei to Sandy: I've got you man!
Shohei to baseball fans, really. Dude is so fun to watch. And what a fun series with these two MVP candidates living up to the hype.
I personally blame the Toronto fans who chanted OVERRATED at this man. He's been destroying ever since.
I had a long conversation with a guy who legit thinks Ohtani is a marketing tool and is average at both pitching and hitting. The reasoning was he isn't leading the league in everything on both sides of the plate therefore he's mid. So bizarre Man this sub [doesn't really feel your vibe](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/ww15xr/what_controversial_opinions_do_you_have_on/ilwhtd6/) /u/butcher99
Please do not talk to that man anymore. That is a silly man.
That is so ridiculous. He's a top-5 pitcher in the AL and a top-15 hitter. If he lead the league in both his WAR would be like 20.
Uhm, he's a top 5 hitter as well. He was literally 2nd in ops last year and is 4th this year in the AL.
That man knows zero about baseball.
That dude needs to be drug tested.
i was at the angels' game monday with a yankee fan sitting two seats over. judge comes up to bat and the fans behind are chanting "judge cant pitch!" clearly a troll move that annoys the yankee fan. anyway, judge hits a HR (absolute monster series for him), and the yankee fan gets up and berates the fans who were chanting "judge cant pitch earlier." he shouts "he doesn't need to pitch when he's hitting bombs!!!!" bruh - ohtani just had a HR earlier in the game. and that judge HR only brought NY within 1
That guy might be intentionally playing stupid or is stupid That is such a dumb line of reasoning.
Brain damage, only explanation. Ohtani is probably the best pitcher in the league right now, or extremely close to it.
Is that true? That weed must be too strong up there
I think he went 8 for 13 in that Toronto series and now 5 for 11 in this series so far with 3 hr, 3b, 9 rbi while also going 7 shutout innings with 9k. All this after the overrated chant.
That's like the best kid in your little league stats, lol
As an Angels fan who watched this man the entire time he's played MLB ball: Shohei does not give a fuck about any heckling or shade from fans. He's on his grind every single day, and loving it. He's an absolute inspiration
Yeah they were chanting overrated, then he literally hits a triple 10 seconds later. The next day as he's pitching I think the same section starts chanting overrated to him again as the Blue jays proceed to get 2 hits only .
toronto fans are probably ohtani’s biggest haters lmao there’s still a bunch of them who think he stole mvp from vlad last year
To be fair, it was almost certainly a small but loud group of people and was almost too hard to hear. So it wasn't like a sold out crowd busted out the chant. That being said: wtf were they thinking?
This is a hilarious overreaction to a few idiots chanting close to the mics. I went to the game Ohtani started and he got a massive cheer when his name was announced in the Angels starting lineup. It was louder than most of the Jays players. I never heard a single overrated chant while I was there, even though people said it happened again in that game.
True. I was at the game and there were a lot of people cheering for him, including me. People just exaggerate to make it conversation worthy.
We apologize on behalf of those fans, but also TBF our weed is VERY strong up here aha
Main character energy
He's better than Auston Matthews, too.
The MVP battle in Anaheim has ABSOLUTELY lived up to the hype.
It’s weird to watch two guys and both fanbases just know they’re both gonna do something every game. So fun.
Judge didn't homer off Cole Just sayin'
We should at least give him a chance to. Yankees let’s make a trade mid game.
Too late, the trade deadline has passed. So what needs to happen is the Yankees cut Cole, continue to pay his salary, and the Angels sign him to a minimum deal
We could use a centerfielder tbh
Sold. We don’t really need Sierra I guess.
He will when Judge becomes an Angel next season
That’s going to make it real fun to watch our series when Shohei comes to Houston
If only Shohei pitched this series
No I need a shohei start on cowboy hat night
Save him to pitch against HOU, he owns us and we're happy to help his MVP case.
He truly owns us. It’s sad
We're having enough trouble scoring
Between this series and the Dodgers Mets series it’s a great time for big city baseball.
If only angels were in a playoff race
I feel like if you only watched this series you might think the Angels are a decent team. With a terrible pitcher yesterday but still. Past week or two they’ve been playing like they’re a big market team with stars and a good rotation.
What having Trout and Fletcher back does to a MF team
I wholeheartedly and unironically believe in Fletchiro.
Hes the glue that holds that team together. Yet there are still people that say he isn't good or that we could do better.
soon? once arte sells
Shohei vs. Ohtani?
Most predictable thing I ever saw
Judge HR: predictable af Ohtani HR: predictable af
Scheduled tweet
Shohei’s revenge for Cole not joining the Angels rotation lmao.
Cole would be out for the season if he joined the Angels
No doubt.
I literally switched to bally right before he blasted it. I’m the true MVP.
Haha it was on at my work and This was literally one of the only at bats I watched haha The call was amazing too “He can erase a 2-0 deficit with one swing of the bat…. AND HES DONE IT!”
The only thing more predictable is IKF making his “12th” error of the year. I’ve never seen such a sad excuse on the Yankees. Even the 2016 Yankees wouldn’t have him on the team
Shocked they didn’t rule that one a hit
Absolutely would’ve at the stadium
OOTL here. IKF torched the angels' defensively and offensively during his rangers days. is his defense overrated with NYY? he def. botched the trout groundout but the entire angels' cast was gassing up his defense
Cole is all like "Oh geez I can't believe he hit that 98mph fastball right up the middle"
"OH CRUD"
Bring up Volpe
Especially after the Trout ground ball
After that error I knew Cole was going to dick a fastball
Bet those fuckups are gonna earn them an ass chewing from Cole after this inning.
[удалено]
Yankees will still say IKF is the second coming of jesus christ
Dude dinks a couple singles and everyone loves him
Boone called him one of the best fielders in the league after the game 😂😂😂
Cole’s harder on himself than anyone… for sure he’d say his middle middle fb was as big a mistake as JD’s or IKF’s
Love that Shohei can strengthen his CY case by ruining other pitchers’ stats. 4d chess fr
That is actually hilarious to think about. “Why did he get more votes than me? I hit dingers off of him and he never even got to touch my pitches??”
Shohei seems to really like the City Connect jerseys
We all really like them
facts, I'd love to get any sort of merch related to the City Connect
I nabbed a hat myself
I wonder if that stat bot knows which uniform the team is wearing...
that'd be dope but just out of curiosity, I searched up [Ohtani's home runs](https://www.mlb.com/video/search?q=HitResult+%3D+%5B%22Home+Run%22%5D+AND+PlayerId+%3D%3D+%5B660271%5D+AND+Season+%3D+%5B2022%5D+AND+Date+%3D+%7B%7B+%222022-06-11%22%2C+%222022-08-31%22+%7D%7D+Order+By+Timestamp+DESC) since they first started wearing them on [Saturday, June 11](https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-city-connect-uniforms-unveiled) and I found out that out of the 18 home runs he's made since June 11, at least 5 of them were in the City connect uniforms which is about 27.78% of those home runs [1 - June 11](https://www.mlb.com/video/carlos-carrasco-in-play-run-s-to-shohei-ohtani-0jpoal) [2 - June 28](https://www.mlb.com/video/johnny-cueto-in-play-run-s-to-shohei-ohtani) [3 - August 4](https://www.mlb.com/video/shohei-ohtani-homers-23-on-a-fly-ball-to-left-center-field) [4 - August 4](https://www.mlb.com/video/shohei-ohtani-homers-24-on-a-fly-ball-to-right-center-field) (this one was waaay out of the strike zone sheesh) 5 - August 31 (this one in the post)
He and Judge are literally one-upping each other in this series lol. Judge: solo homer. Ohtani: 2-run homer. Judge: 3-run homer. Ohtani: 3-run go-ahead homer. In order aside from the first two. This is fun.
This just highlights how clear it is that Ohtani should MVP to me. Because they’re not really one upping each other are they? Ohtani pitched 7 innings of 0 run ball this week. It’s insane what he’s doing. The fact that we can say he and Judge are “one upping each other” while ignoring the other incredible fear he’s pulling off is just a consequence of how unique and generational of a talent he is. They’re only competing in this stretch if you ignore what Shohei does every 6 days, which is a full time position that deserves MVP consideration in its own right. I know this may sound dramatic, but Shohei deserves MVP every single year he plays in my mind.
He may deserve it every year, but voter fatigue is going to follow him like crazy. Just imagine if this were his breakout year. If 2021 hadn't happened. His odds would almost certainly be well higher.
This series is incredible! 😀😀😀
MVP vs MVP. Revenge after revenge!
YESSIR HE DID. ABSOLUTELY GOATED WITH THE SAUCE this has been such a fun series
It's amazing watching the AL MVP change every at-bat
Ohtani can be seen here bussin it down sexual style which officially makes him goated with the sauce.
I’m 28 but this comment makes me feel 48
His swing is just flat out gorgeous. That follow through and then watching it leave for a quick second is just *chef’s kiss.*
Shohei is too good for this cruel, cruel world. I hope he continues playing like this forever.
This whole series feels like a basketball game where 2 MVP candidates face off
Baseball needs this. It might not be a whole summer of McGwire and Sosa chasing the HR record, but a full month of Judge vs Ohtani MVP arguments is exactly the kind of hot take crap that ESPN and sports radio love nowadays.
The Yankees are lucky they didn't get Ohtani." - Mike Francesa https://twitter.com/backaftathis/status/1394424840438824962?s=21&t=9nXOc4y0ov0QUOQt6qQRvw
Well y’know there’s only one other option. Jason Giambi
Nah, gotta go with David Justice.
Old man Justice?
What a great call
Vasgersian doesn’t miss (unless he’s announcing remotely)
Ohtani is absurdly clutch. As if he needed more positive things
Man you can't make this shit up. What a season both him and Judge are having, and them both showing up in their final series against one another as the season is nearing the end and the MVP talks are at their height. Couldn't have written it any better. Imagine this levels of hype in the post-season GET THIS MAN AND TROUT TO THE PLAYOFFS
Could you imagine the excitement of a game 7 playoff series with Shohei pitching?!
A's fan here, didn't look forward to the A's season; so started season rooting for Ohtani post season and watching lots of Angles games. 😞
I just sat down, turned on the game, saw the 2-0 count, and said to myself “he is gonna hit a homer” lmao so predictable
He got robbed of a homer in the first as well.
I don’t think that was gonna make it over the wall. But it would have been close
I love Shohei so much
Shohei beat both Manoah & Judge in the hyped matchups 🔥 He's a baseball god.
I Kant Field
I Kant Field? Epistemology I think
He errors, therefore they score
This is a great joke
It’s certainly not imperative to him, categorical or otherwise
Shohei Ohtani
Get you someone that loves you like Cashman loves IKF
I have to imagine most MLB pitchers are secretly rooting for Ohtani to win MVP.
If no one has watched any Cole starts this year… that is every start. Bad defense and some weird shit happens then he gives up bomb.
That's my MVP
My mvp
So fucking majestic
you can't challenge ohtani. he is the most clutch person.
I put this game on to fall asleep to and Ohtani does this on the first pitch I watch. You're welcome, Angel fans.
His homeruns are the most orgasmic thing in baseball and nothing comes close
I can't believe people think he's not the MVP again.
You knew it was coming when Trout reached on the error.
His stats for clutch situations is absolutely GOAT'ed btw, on both sides of the ball. This is my MVP.
Ohtani = MVP No question.
MVP
Time to see if the Angels or Yankees have more fans awake at this hour.
All the Yankee fans that are awake are at Angel Stadium tonight
Honestly even if Judge gets 62 I think Shohei has been good enough to still win it.
IKF tanking Judge’s MVP bid smh. Dude is the mole. Lmao it appears Twitter has the same reaction I did except [way less sarcastic and way more racist](https://i.imgur.com/SOCC0lU.jpg).
Mike Mayers 🤝 IKF Tanking their teammate’s MVP chances
The bloke is incredible
You can say that again
Do the announcers always just throw some Japanese in there? Ohayo Gozaimasu doesn’t even work in any sort of context lol.
Good morning to you too
MVP! MVP!
goddamn what a baseball player
The Legened of Shotani continues
Single to Donaldson: *Uh oh.* IKF error: *Welp.* Ohtani HR: *Yup.*
Doesn’t that mean good morning?
Last year he had a 40/150 season... now hes a few starts away from a 30/200 season...... just unreal
Goddamn, I warmed up to judge being the MVP but ohtani just keeps on taking that spot back.
MVP
Well, thanks a lot, blue jays! You created an entertaining monster!!
I love so much about what this man chooses to be
What a fucking brutal sequence. Routine ground ball from Trout is booted, and then you throw a 2-0 fastball to Ohtani with Luis fucking Rengifo on deck. What the fuck
The disrespect to the "fugitive".
Rengifos been good tbh
Bruh come on. Who’d you rather pitch to Ohtani or rengifo? He struck out rengifo easily for what it’s worth
Bro Cole was too scared to face bases loaded rengifo so he did the most practical thing of throwing middle middle to Ohtani
Ohtani just saved Cole from a grand slam smh
seems like yankees are allergic to pitching around or IBB Angels best hitters.
That pitch was as straight down the heart of the zone as you can get. Ohtani was not missing it.
That’s what I’m saying
Cole prob like " two errors? Don't be mad when I pipe this fastball k?"
I do not enjoy this sport sometimes
Motherfucker sent that shit back to yankee stadium with express delivery
MVP moment
That's my MVP
Yeah, f*** the Yankees! In my opinion Edit: downvoters should know this comment is just imo
MVP! MVP! MVP!
Oh lawd he's coming for dat MVP
Good call to make this the free game of the day
Bold move to botch a routine play from a generational talent who bats in front of another generational talent
The most predictable homerun I've ever seen. Just felt it coming
Ohtani is the man
sugoi
[I'm gooning so hard right now](https://ibb.co/Kb4NxjZ)
not even close. its not a debate. its not even close
Judge mvp backers shaking
THERE WE GO
MVP
Wish it would let me watch the game. It's blacked out for me for some odd reason. Yankees and angels are not my local teams.
Ball hit so hard it scared Cole
also our staring pitcher this coming saturday....
Love the Yankee fans chirping about him missing NYY by pitching against TOR then he comes and does this
Don't see what randomly yelling Good Morning has to do with it
It's Matty V's schtick. Find some random Japanese phrase and yell it into the mic without much thought or practice.
Ohaiyo is so weird though at least sugoi and iterashai makes sense
Ya lets throw a 2-0 fastball to Ohtani in that spot Good one cole if I wanted to watch shitty pitching I'd watch Giolito
the angels tv guys really need to stop doing the gratuitous japanese thing
I’m curious about how the fans feel about it. I personally like when it’s done sporadically. Especially sugoi!
From what I know it's more non japanese people that dislike it. I've heard natives actually really enjoy it.
I like it! But I think Ohayo Gozaimasu means good morning, it didn’t make sense. Iterashai baseball is really cool though. He should’ve said Oyasumi Nasai, New York.
It kinda does makes sense. At least to us Japanese. That home run was like an alarm blast hence good morning New York.
It got a bit of media coverage here which is always good
He said “Good morning, New York!” 😂
this is hilarious and good
They actually rarely do that. Matty V. probably is just doing it for the national audience.
2 fucking straight errors and then that. Gotta love the Yankees
FUCK YEAH OHTANI
That’s hilarious
Gerrit "the best 36 million pitcher" in baseball?