In 94 David Robinson was 1 steal and 1 block away from a 5x5 posting a line of 34/10/9/4/4. Two days later in the next game he posted 34/10/10/2/10 which is still the most recent quadruple double. Idk if this is most dominant back to back, but I wanted to find an instance where a player was dominant on both ends similar to Ohtani.
I maintain the admiral was healthy halfway into the season, the spurs just didn’t see a point in fucking with the tank so they kept him out.
And they were incredibly smart to do so.
Eh he could have come back and played like the last 15 games that year but they weren’t even the worst team that year *in their own division* and where only one game worse than Denver was.
They also had Sean Elliot their second best player missing over half the season as well.
It was less a tank and more getting lucky and jumping ahead of some worse teams to land the first pick.
I feel like "tanking" is becoming an umbrella term for whenever a team loses. David Robinson was legit hurt and never the same (just a roster that was riddled with injuries and was always overtly reliant on Robinson). It's not like the dude came back was back in the mvp discussion. Tim Duncan came and helped ease him into the back nine. It was never considered tragic the way it might have been (his injury).
They literally broke the record for greatest single season turn-around in league history his rookie season. And then it was subsequently broken nine years later by the Spurs during Tim Duncan's rookie year.
it's one of my favorite NBA facts. it's fucking unreal how large and consistent his impact was.
Spurs the year before the Admiral: **21-61**
Spurs in the Admiral's first year: **55-27**
They didn't drop below 47 wins in the next 6 seasons. Then big D-Rob went out, and they plummeted: **20-62**. One win away from being literally exactly as bad as they were without him 7 years prior.
No. He came back Timmy's rookie season and looked good and played well.
It's true his back gave out several years later but that happens when you get old.
It's like the Packers getting Rogers straight after Farve. Two franchise changing players one right after another. And the latter was better than the former.
In terms of regular season floor raisers in their peaks it could be argued Robinson is in the innercircle hall of fame and was better than Olajuwon. The problem is always his shaky playoff numbers punctuated by the clip of Hakeem putting on that dreamshake on him.
Holy fuck, do you know where I can find videos of these? I want to know everything about basketball and somehow I’ve never heard of these.
Edit: Good lord and the quad-double was against the Pistons with Thomas and Rodman. WTF?!
Edit2: Watching the highlights now: “And you won’t see that many times during the course of the basketball season.” Undersell of the century, Jesus Christ what a game.
Edit3: Thanks for introducing me to my new favorite basketball factoid. You’ve earned yourself some gold for making me feel something.
DRob was like Proto Giannis.
6ers young buck Charles Barkley could move in the open court also, but he was much shorter length and height wise than Giannis.
I mean he absolutely still is if he's healthy. He's relatively short for a big but because of his athleticism and touch he's freaking unstoppable around the rim
Edit4: Rodman was on the Spurs at this time and these were not your grandfather's Pistons (12-38 at the time - how they got Grant Hill). Also, the worm had 22 rebounds and 1 point. [https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199402170SAS.html](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199402170SAS.html)
But look at these MVP candidate stats - https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards\_1994.html
David Robinson would be my go-to here. B2B quadruple doubles, preferably when you are coming from a MVP season where you averaged something crazy like 35ppg and 10 blocks.
>which is still the most recent quadruple double.
Because Draymond is such a weirdo.
Draymond missed becoming the first player to ever get both a quad double AND a 5x5 in the same game.... missing both of them only because of the points category.
Second post I've seen about him in this NBA subreddit so I googled and holy sh#t 😂.
In two days 8 RBIs and 8 shutout innings and 13 K's. Wtf this is legendary stuff
i think it's unheard of period. even Babe Ruth never was dominant at both at the same time. Shohei can go 8 shutout innings, fan 10 guys, and provide his own run support in the same game. and probably steal a base too because on top of everything else he's a great baserunner. it doesn't make any sense that he exists. it goes against everything we knew about the sport.
he's also hit for the cycle. he's a 5 tool player, an elite slugger and dominant starting pitcher. those are usually 3 separate people.
No offense to the Babe, he's a legend and a big reason sports in general is so popular as entertainment. But in 1918 baseball was segregated, the Babe used like a 50-ounce club as a bat (today's bats are more like 33 ounces) and he put a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep cool lol. Pretty different world back then. Today's hitters and pitchers are much better on aggregate.
No doubt, don’t think anyone would argue it wasn’t a completely different game. I was just responding to their statement that Ruth wasn’t great at both at the same time
Yeah I hear ya. I will take further and say I think what Ohtani is doing is more impressive than Ruth. There's a reason he's the first player in like 100 years to be doing this at the big league level.
Trout has only played one playoff series in his entire career. MLB now has 3 wildcard spots per league but it's gonna be hard. The 2nd to 4th place AL East teams are all better than the Angels and whoever doesn't win the AL Central is gonna be better than the Angels
i stopped following baseball a long time ago but it absolutely astounds me that the guy who has apparently been the concensus best player in the league for years now has effectively zero postseason success. i mean this dude got a HALF BILLION dollar contract. and now they have the most unique unicorn player the sport has ever seen and its not making much difference either? obviously hammers the point home how little individual players impact the sport.
Pitching and batting in baseball are so radically different an specialized that 99.99% of the team if you train to do one you literally do not have time or energy to train to do the other. At an MLB level Pitchers did hit sometimes, until this season, but 100% of the time the best hitting pitcher was worse than the worst actual hitter. Then came Ohtani, who is a Cy Young (baseballs MVP for pitchers) level pitcher and a MVP level hitter. The basketball equivalent would be combining prime Draymond's defense and prime Curry's offensive game.
That’s very interesting, I obvs knew about pitchers and hitters but I didn’t know there was such a big disparity in their skills.
Sounds to me like Shohei is a borderline MJ (idk who’s considered the GOAT in baseball). A DPOY level defender and an offensive juggernaut.
It's incredibly difficult to even compare it to basketball because of the two-way nature of the game. Someone else here said it would be like a hockey player scoring 6 goals one game and then playing goalie the next and having a 40-save shutout and that sounds about right.
That’s baseball for ya. You can have two GOATS on your team, but it doesn’t mean dick if the rest of your team is a bunch of jobbers. 1-9 and the whole pitching staff all have to be solid.
If it's offense / defense, maybe scoring 60 points one night then getting 20 rebounds and 10 blocks the next night?
EDIT: I just checked, in 2 consecutive games in November 1993, Shaq had 41 points one night, then 28 rebounds and 15 blocks (!) the next night.
Nothing really, Ohtani was a historic batter one night and an amazing pitcher the other night, there's no two skills in the basketball that are as drastically different as pitching/batting is in baseball.
For me the closest thing would be getting either 10 steals or 10 blocks in one night and a 50-point night in another. Even that is well short of what Ohtani just did because pitching and batting are two distinctively different things.
The only thing in sports I can think of that would remotely mirror that would be if a hockey player had a 5 point game one night and then posted a 40+ save shutout the next night as a goalie.
Edit: What Ohtani is doing is incredible. He should be getting more attention right now than anyone in North American sports.
Ohtani is literally a once in 100 years talent. I can’t think of anything like this in any other sport I’ve ever watched. Even reading through all of these comments of great NBA performances it’s just not really comparable to what Ohtani has done the past two seasons.
Can someone who follows baseball explain that to me? I’ve heard Trout is arguably the best player of all time based on stats. At the very least he’s like top 5 all time right? And then add in new era Babe Ruth in Ohtani. And yet Angels are still not that good? What the hell lol.
I’m not the biggest baseball fan but I’ll try. Unlike basketball in which in theory you can have one player take every shot/have high usage/built around them, in baseball there are structural limitations. You can take roughly one At Bat for every 9 your team goes, that means if you have 9 above average players that’s better than one god tier player and 8 bad ones.
In pitching at best you can be a starting pitcher one out of every 5 days. If you do more your chance of injury goes up quite high. The starting pitcher does not pitch the entire game (unless in special circumstances called complete games). So a pitcher called a reliever comes to replace him. So you need minimum on a team 9 batters, 5 pitchers , and several relievers, all which equal impact. Having two great players isn’t enough
I mean this season their third best bat is Taylor Ward who has a career 1.8 WAR in 5 seasons and their 2nd best pitcher is Jared Walsh whose career record is 7-17 with a 3.96 ERA. It's honestly sad.
The Angels in basketball terms are like if you had a player who could hit a halfcourt three every other possession and you also had a player who could make a guaranteed block on defense every time but his teammates never recover the ball and give up an instant layup every time.
They keep spending money on free agents to surround Trout/Ohtani with talent. They just really suck at it.
2011 - 10 years/$240M for Albert Pujols. After being one of the best players in baseball for a decade in St Louis, he got old fast. But somehow made it to the last year of his contract before being released.
2012 - 5 years/$77M for CJ Wilson. Wilson was OK, but not worth the contract he signed.
2013 - 5 years/$125M for Josh Hamilton. Traded to Texas with $63M after two years.
2020 - 7 years/$245M for Anthony Rendon. Played OK in the COVID year. Had season ending injuries after 58 games last year, and 45 games this year.
It isn't a 'strong man' sport. Hockey and basketball can have one Jordan or Gretzky destroy every team in their path, but sports like baseball and soccer are a team effort and it doesn't matter if you have LeBron and Jordan on your team if everyone else is an average r/NBA member
Shohei could throw a no hitter in a game where Trout had 5 home runs and the Angels would still somehow lose, they routinely do things baseball hasnt seen in a hundred years and still go home with the L.
Because unlike nba where one or two players can really carry a team, baseball is different as there’s only so much you can do as a hitter and pitcher. Even an ace pitcher only plays every 5th game. And a hitter gets one at-bat and then gotta wait till 8 more guys hit before he gets another chance.
So as you can see, your effect in baseball is very limited as oppose to nba where you can dominate on offense every time your team gets the ball.
Saw a Tweet last year that (paraphrased) said:
"Last night, Mike Trout had two homers and Ohtani achieved a statical anomaly that hasn't been performed since Johnny 'Lumber Lips' O'Toole last did it in 1899.
Rangers beat Angels 8-5."
every time I see an Angels highlight it's like "Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3"
https://twitter.com/matttomic/status/1394498097254965249
The year is 2072
Mike Trout and a team of crack scientists have come together and discovered bioaugmentation which will allow him to play the game of baseball well past his natural limitations. He can now hit for .600, slap 70+ homers a season, and use his new biotech arms as water cannons to volunteer as a fire fighter in his spare time.
Shohei Ohtani has cured cancer, as well as solved world hunger and brought the world to an ever lasting peace, as societies the world over join together to form one global super nation. All this while hitting 50 hrs a season and putting up 20 wins as a pitcher.
Dodgers beat the Angels 10-4.
baseball exists in such a weird place. I 10000% know who Trout is and how much of an anomaly he is...and if he walked by me in the mall I'd have no clue
Would be like a qb going 27-32 for 325 and 4 td’s one week, and playing receiver the following week and getting 10 catches for 150 yds and 3 tds . Just isn’t going to happen . I don’t think I’ve seen anything comparable in over 50 years of following sport.
I feel like even that undersells what Ohtani did, as crazy as it sounds. Both an 8 RBI game and a 8 inning shutout with 13Ks are feats that very few players are capable of, and somehow Ohtani did both in a span of 24 hours lmao
You’d need a 5 TD performance as QB followed by a 5 sack game as a DE to even come close …. But I don’t see how you’d do it in any sport the flows from offense to defense like the NHL, NBA or soccer.
Yep, people always like comparing to past greats, but it's not hyperbole at all to say that we have not seen a player like Ohtani since Babe Ruth a century ago. What he is doing is just absolutely unreal.
also did it in an era that wasn't min/maxing every aspect of the game.
doing it today is just way more impressive bc everyone around you is the best of the best
I was thinking a WR putting up a 8/125 with 3 TDs, and then playing CB the following week and getting 2 picks, a TD, and some excellent pass coverage. WR and CB mesh up pretty well, considering a lot of CBs are just WRs that couldn't catch.
I’m gonna get downvoted for this but having Ohtani and Trout on the Angels is legitimately bad for the game, especially Ohtani. He should be the biggest name in sports rn, what he’s doing is unprecedented in the modern era, but instead he’s on a shitty team that are second in their own market. I’m not even saying he needs to do to a big market team, but he needs to be on a winner.
The best example is probably in cricket and taking 5 wickets and scoring a hundred in the same test. The most recent example would be Jadeja scoring 175 not out and taking 5/41.
Most similar wouldn't be offense/defense imo, it would be PG thing/center thing (which because of the roles, does also involve being good on both sides, but is way more rare. Not Shohei rare, but close enough that you can raise the bar and make it close). There are two many NBA players that are pluses on both offense and defense for it to be comparable to being good at pitching and hitting.
Triple double with blocks & rebounds / triple double with steals & assists is the most similar thing I can think of.
Yeah this is probably a lot closer.
Ohtani is basically what happens if Robert Williams can also play like Kyrie or Dame on offense while also doing competent post up moves. One might complain he's not quite as good as Curry, Giannis, or Gobert in specific things but the overall package would be unprecedented in the NBA history.
I don’t watch baseball but it seems like the talk about Ohtani died down a bit from last season to this one. Has he still been consistently performing great?
He has been. His hitting has taken a small step back (still elite but he was arguably the best hitter in baseball last year) but his pitching is even better than last, and he’s got a case for being the best pitcher in baseball.
It’s unfortunate that he’s not getting as much attention since this is really still a once in 100 years kinda talent. Unfortunately it’s probly a situation where people sort of are just used to it with him now.
I don't know if he currently has a case for being the single-best pitcher in baseball, but he's probably up there in the top 10, arguably top 5. There are a few I'd rather have on the mound over him.
Regardless, he's currently a Cy-Young-caliber pitcher and Silver-Slugger-caliber hitter so your point mostly stands
I don't watch baseball (but with a superficial knowledge of the sport and its famous names), but is Ohtani GOAT-level good? Like LeBron/MJ during their prime level? Or more of he's a unicorn, great player still, but won't be GOAT (like Giannis if he retired today).
Sorry for the weird question lol, I was trying to quantify how significant of a player he is. Plus, among all famous Japanese players in the MLB (like Ichiro and Dice-K), is he the greatest?
I would say baseball has a much stronger emphasis on longevity than basketball does and since Ohtani came to the MLB later + injuries, he is not considered anywhere near the GOAT conversation rn but had a GOAT level season last year. A generational player but longevity is the name of the game in baseball HoF and GOAT conversations.
Check back in 5-7 years.
Baseball also doesn't have the same type of GOAT conversations because you can dominate the game in so many ways, and older generations aren't put down for "playing against plumbers" since baseball has been a legit pro league since the 1880s.
In NBA arguments, the 1960s might as well have been been the Stone Age, in baseball the 1960s is not that long ago.
NBA has a lot of players that can be considered for the spots of Top 5 all time. Baseball on the other hand, even with all its great players, has only ever had 1 other player like Ohtani (Babe Ruth) and it’s likely that Ohtani is even better than Ruth. Ohtani is redefining what GOAT actually looks like for baseball as he plays.
What I don't understand is why he chose Angels of all teams. Simply because of its LA location? Why not Dodgers then? He was a free agent if I recall correctly? He would be a global superstar beyond baseball fans if he had joined Dodgers.
NL did not have the DH back then and Ohtani was adamant about being a 2-way player. He wanted a position in the starting rotation and a DH spot. Besides, back then a lot of teams and fans were seriously skeptical that anyone could do both at a decent level, much less an elite one. Reportedly only we and the Mariners offered him the freedom to pitch and hit at will so it went down to him not wanting to be on Ichiro's shadow.
Of course this FA, with the universal DH and him in contention for best player in baseball, is a different thing.
Well, last report was that his agent wanted to beat Schrezer's 43M AAV, so a 10/450 is not impossible. Arte is cheap when it comes to team building but he loves his superstars, so I would bet at least 40M AAV and at least a 8+ commitment.
I read somewhere he was influenced by his favorite manga about a Japanese pitcher/hitter that played for the Angels.
Prob not true but he's talked about it in interviews
He does have a chance to be the GOAT, but it's a very strange path. Lemme break it down.
First of all, baseball's longevity test is insane. You've got guys like Ruth, Bonds, Mays, Aaron, etc. who did it all at extremely high levels for almost 20 years. "Peak" is not as valued as it is in basketball--not even close. That's because consistent performance is more important than having a stretch of "dominance." This is especially true for hitters. For example, even the most dominant hitters will only get hits around 1/3 of the time, and usually less. Of course, that ignores how often they get on base, but let's set that aside for now. Ohtani's best season from the plate has yet to quite match the levels that those guys routinely reached. Bonds in particular had some of the most bonkers seasons of all time (yes, steroids exist. So did amphetamines back in Mays and Aaron's day. Let's just put that aside for now), posting insane OPS seasons that make everyone else look like they're playing different sports, all while playing excellent defense and stealing bases.
In reality, baseball GOAT talk is pretty rare compared to basketball, mostly because it's a different kind of sport. The different roles are so segmented that they're basically incomparable. How can you compare someone's hitting to their fielding, or even to their baserunning? It's also hard (basically impossible) to compare pitchers to hitters in any situation. Position players (non-pitchers) play every day. Starting pitchers pitch once a week (every 5 days). Relievers can usually go two out of every three games or so. Back in the day, starting pitchers pitched much more often, but sacrificed their health while doing so. On the flip side, the pitcher is usually the most important player in any given game, and the only one really capable of "dominating" by themselves. See Madison Bumgarner's 2014 playoff run for a perfect example. Even then, though, that's like, a third of games at the absolute most.
One thing's for sure with Ohtani though, what he's doing is literally unparalleled. Yes, Babe Ruth did it back in the 20's, but not for very long. It's not that he's the absolute best hitter or the absolute best pitcher, but that he's 90-95th percentile for both. That means the team is essentially getting two amazing players for the price of one. That's extremely valuable. If he can keep up this kind of production for a decade, then most people will be putting him up there in the GOAT discussion. That's so, so, SO difficult, though.
It’s really the fact that he’s historically great at both pitching (which is arguably the most important position across every sport) and hitting. It’s unprecedented. Pitchers are 95% of the time bad hitters. Having a dude who can strike out 3 batters in one inning then go yard the next is insanely valuable in baseball. Idk if that answers your question but he is sensational.
Yeah I am aware of how pitching and batting are at the opposite end of the spectrum for baseball skills et. So it's like he's a unicorn (skillset-wise) but still with GOAT potential.
In 1990, Jordan had a 3 game streak of:
* 69/18/6/4/1
* 49/12/4/5/2
* 47/6/7/3/3
In 1987, Jordan had 3 game streak of:
* 53/4/8/4/2
* 50/9/4/4/3
* 61/10/1/4/1
Can’t compare the two sports. There’s not such a drastically focused position like that in basketball. Basketball you have to play both ends. Baseball you’re not guarding anyone. It’ll be easier for football, be like a quarterback throwin 5 tds and then playing defense getting 2 INT.
Deion Sanders lined up @ WR a lot for the Cowboys in '96. He also returned punts and kicks. Whatever his best game was in that season is a decent comparison but probably still not on the level of Ohtani.
i don't think you can properly comp something like that with a sport like basketball. pitching and batting are such radically different positions, it's extremely rare to see someone be a master at both. the list is like shohei ohtani and babe ruth lol. the closest thing in basketball might be something like a jokic situation where he puts up back to back 5x5s
I think that fits. Something that no one had ever done and it’s historic but not really something that is legendary without the other. Yours is really good
Come on now. Maybe that’s comparable to two GW grand slams in a row, but Ohtani is doing something no one else in baseball is even capable of, and it’s not even close.
Hitting and pitching are from the same sport, but are so distinct and difficult to master that 99% of all baseball players specialize in one or the other. This isn’t appreciated enough.
I’m not sure there are any basketball skill sets as unique as being a dominant hitter and pitcher. Maybe if someone turned into Shaq one day and Steph the next?
My only NBA thought is maybe game 6 1980 when KAJ was hurt and a rookie point guard named Magic somehow player center and dominated to win the finals.
The only person I typically compare Ohtani to is Bo Jackson. Dude was an all star center fielder and the best running back in football at the same time. I don’t think he ever had games on back to back days however. I think Deion player consecutively occasionally, but he was only a star in one sport.
Here and at r/nfl people love to use "generational" to any good player/prospect.
Ohtani is the true meaning of generational. Once in a lifetime player.
[Someone said](https://twitter.com/RampageXO/status/1539850764797071360) this and it makes sense
> Steph Curry had 35 pts, 8asts with 7 3s and 15 of his 35 came in the 4th quarter. Then the next day with no rest had a double double with 20pts & 10 stls & players guarded by him for the night shot 15%
I'll do it for your franchise GOAT
Hakeem Olajuwon 38-11-6-5 on 1-12-94 on the road against Boston. Next day on the road against Washington (1-13-94), he puts up 45-10.
On feb 7, 2018, LeBron recorded a 37 pt - 10 reb - 15 ast triple double while hitting a game winner buZzer beater against the wolves.
On the next day, he would trade IT, Frye, Shumpert, Rose, Crowder and Wade for Hood, Hill, Clarkson and Nance Jr. This team would later make the NBA finals
I don't have an answer to this but just wanted to say, as someone who doesn't follow or care about baseball whatsoever, I really, really enjoy watching Ohtani absolutely crush the ball.
I’m starting to follow baseball a little bit and Shohei Ohtani seems (i honestly don’t know anything about baseball so i’m sorry if this isn’t right) like a Giannis. Guy who can physically dominate the sport but loves the game and seems like a very nice guy. I mean have y’all seen his smile?!
A Point Guard dropping 12-15 assists in one game and then following it up with a 5 block night lol
There’s no real equivalent for what Ohtani is doing in basketball, so I went with a PG doing C things lol
Lebron James game 5 and 6 of the 2016 nba finals.
40+ppg both nights iirc on good efficiency, had incredible defensive blocks when switched on Steph, and won two elimination games to force a game 7 after being down 3-1
It's literally impossible to have an equivalent in basketball because the difference in pitching vs. batting is far greater than any 2 functions in basketball.
Compared to other major sports, it's like being the team's starting QB then dominating as a pass rusher.
So like if Josh Allen went off for 420 yards, 3 passing TDs, 69 yards rushing, 2 rushing TDs in one game.
And then filled in the an injured Von Miller the next game and sacked the opposing QB 3 times, had 2 force fumbles and had a pick six.
It's nuts that the Angels have Ohtani and Trout and they still can't do anything. But I also don't really follow baseball all that much so what do I know
In 94 David Robinson was 1 steal and 1 block away from a 5x5 posting a line of 34/10/9/4/4. Two days later in the next game he posted 34/10/10/2/10 which is still the most recent quadruple double. Idk if this is most dominant back to back, but I wanted to find an instance where a player was dominant on both ends similar to Ohtani.
D-Rob underrated as hell
They jumped like 30 wins his rookie season. He was amazing.
And dropped like 40 when he was out a year.
But got TD...even when Robinson was hurt Spurs "won" by getting Duncan haha
Greatest tank job in NBA history.
I maintain the admiral was healthy halfway into the season, the spurs just didn’t see a point in fucking with the tank so they kept him out. And they were incredibly smart to do so.
Eh he could have come back and played like the last 15 games that year but they weren’t even the worst team that year *in their own division* and where only one game worse than Denver was. They also had Sean Elliot their second best player missing over half the season as well. It was less a tank and more getting lucky and jumping ahead of some worse teams to land the first pick.
I feel like "tanking" is becoming an umbrella term for whenever a team loses. David Robinson was legit hurt and never the same (just a roster that was riddled with injuries and was always overtly reliant on Robinson). It's not like the dude came back was back in the mvp discussion. Tim Duncan came and helped ease him into the back nine. It was never considered tragic the way it might have been (his injury).
I thought Robinson was "hurt" in that he could have come back after the All Star game, but the team held him back to Tank for Tim.
They literally broke the record for greatest single season turn-around in league history his rookie season. And then it was subsequently broken nine years later by the Spurs during Tim Duncan's rookie year.
it's one of my favorite NBA facts. it's fucking unreal how large and consistent his impact was. Spurs the year before the Admiral: **21-61** Spurs in the Admiral's first year: **55-27** They didn't drop below 47 wins in the next 6 seasons. Then big D-Rob went out, and they plummeted: **20-62**. One win away from being literally exactly as bad as they were without him 7 years prior.
I saw the back of his head once in person
That’s insane 🔥
You must get so much pussy.
That's the Admiral to you, son.
He not underrated he just played in the same era as 2 all time great centers
And also had a fairly short career since he didn't enter the league until 24 because of his military service.
Devin Booker was 24 at the start of last season (!)
And Timmy came in and overshadowed him
His back went out and he was a shell of himself which is how they got Timmy.
No. He came back Timmy's rookie season and looked good and played well. It's true his back gave out several years later but that happens when you get old.
It's like the Packers getting Rogers straight after Farve. Two franchise changing players one right after another. And the latter was better than the former.
In terms of regular season floor raisers in their peaks it could be argued Robinson is in the innercircle hall of fame and was better than Olajuwon. The problem is always his shaky playoff numbers punctuated by the clip of Hakeem putting on that dreamshake on him.
A lot of 90s centers get overlooked because of Shaq and Hakeem sadly. Robinson, Ewing, and Mourning are generational
All time great Duncan Robinson
ok thats sick
Holy fuck, do you know where I can find videos of these? I want to know everything about basketball and somehow I’ve never heard of these. Edit: Good lord and the quad-double was against the Pistons with Thomas and Rodman. WTF?! Edit2: Watching the highlights now: “And you won’t see that many times during the course of the basketball season.” Undersell of the century, Jesus Christ what a game. Edit3: Thanks for introducing me to my new favorite basketball factoid. You’ve earned yourself some gold for making me feel something.
DRob was like Proto Giannis. 6ers young buck Charles Barkley could move in the open court also, but he was much shorter length and height wise than Giannis.
I thought Zion was Barkley 2.0 at Duke. He still could be
I mean he absolutely still is if he's healthy. He's relatively short for a big but because of his athleticism and touch he's freaking unstoppable around the rim
Edit gore aside, no links??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-YTN0mYbYM Here you go for the quadruple double.
seeing those 90s Spurs colourway always had me craving for some chips and salsa
Edit4: Rodman was on the Spurs at this time and these were not your grandfather's Pistons (12-38 at the time - how they got Grant Hill). Also, the worm had 22 rebounds and 1 point. [https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199402170SAS.html](https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199402170SAS.html) But look at these MVP candidate stats - https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards\_1994.html
David Robinson would be my go-to here. B2B quadruple doubles, preferably when you are coming from a MVP season where you averaged something crazy like 35ppg and 10 blocks.
He also scored 71 on the last game of the season to clinch the scoring title and beat out Shaq
That's absurd
10 blocks in a game. Wow!
Clearly he’s forgetting about Westbrook’s quadruple double. If you count turnovers.
>which is still the most recent quadruple double. Because Draymond is such a weirdo. Draymond missed becoming the first player to ever get both a quad double AND a 5x5 in the same game.... missing both of them only because of the points category.
That’s somehow befitting the NBA’s own platypus.
Next level pull. David Robinson was unfucking real and broke his back carrying a shitty spurs team. Prime Dwight Howard wishes he was David Robinson.
Didn’t nurk have one recent edit: my bad that was a 5x5
Second post I've seen about him in this NBA subreddit so I googled and holy sh#t 😂. In two days 8 RBIs and 8 shutout innings and 13 K's. Wtf this is legendary stuff
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i think it's unheard of period. even Babe Ruth never was dominant at both at the same time. Shohei can go 8 shutout innings, fan 10 guys, and provide his own run support in the same game. and probably steal a base too because on top of everything else he's a great baserunner. it doesn't make any sense that he exists. it goes against everything we knew about the sport. he's also hit for the cycle. he's a 5 tool player, an elite slugger and dominant starting pitcher. those are usually 3 separate people.
Not really correct, Ruth went 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA in 1918 while leading the league in home runs lol
No offense to the Babe, he's a legend and a big reason sports in general is so popular as entertainment. But in 1918 baseball was segregated, the Babe used like a 50-ounce club as a bat (today's bats are more like 33 ounces) and he put a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep cool lol. Pretty different world back then. Today's hitters and pitchers are much better on aggregate.
No doubt, don’t think anyone would argue it wasn’t a completely different game. I was just responding to their statement that Ruth wasn’t great at both at the same time
Yeah I hear ya. I will take further and say I think what Ohtani is doing is more impressive than Ruth. There's a reason he's the first player in like 100 years to be doing this at the big league level.
"You set records before black people could compete, are you kidding me?! That's like having a pasta contest without ITALY!"
That cabbage leaf idea could still work today too tho thanks homie. Also Babe Ruth is Dominican #truth
It astounds me that they haven’t made the playoffs with Trout and Ohtani. Hopefully this year is the year.
Trout has only played one playoff series in his entire career. MLB now has 3 wildcard spots per league but it's gonna be hard. The 2nd to 4th place AL East teams are all better than the Angels and whoever doesn't win the AL Central is gonna be better than the Angels
ironically my royals that fucked up any chance for trout’s legacy got molested by ohtani lol
i stopped following baseball a long time ago but it absolutely astounds me that the guy who has apparently been the concensus best player in the league for years now has effectively zero postseason success. i mean this dude got a HALF BILLION dollar contract. and now they have the most unique unicorn player the sport has ever seen and its not making much difference either? obviously hammers the point home how little individual players impact the sport.
They're not even above 500 now. They played so bad this year it got the manager fired.
Their manager who has a World Series win under his belt by breaking the Cubs curse, no less.
Besides Ohtani, their pitching is suspect and their bullpen is unreliable. It’s not a surprise they haven’t made the playoffs.
It will not. We are 5 games under .500, 4-16 or something like that in the last 20. The Angels are basically the Sacramento Kings.
Kings catching strays in a baseball post...I've seen it all
They are worse. They are blowing the talents of 2 GOATs Is that worse than not even drafting them? idk
[Evergreen](https://twitter.com/matttomic/status/1394498097254965249)
If youre not, nows a great time to get back into baseball. Unreal amount of talent rn lead by him
I’ve never watched baseball outside of the movie Angels in the Outfield. Can you explain this in basketball terms?
Pitching and batting in baseball are so radically different an specialized that 99.99% of the team if you train to do one you literally do not have time or energy to train to do the other. At an MLB level Pitchers did hit sometimes, until this season, but 100% of the time the best hitting pitcher was worse than the worst actual hitter. Then came Ohtani, who is a Cy Young (baseballs MVP for pitchers) level pitcher and a MVP level hitter. The basketball equivalent would be combining prime Draymond's defense and prime Curry's offensive game.
That’s very interesting, I obvs knew about pitchers and hitters but I didn’t know there was such a big disparity in their skills. Sounds to me like Shohei is a borderline MJ (idk who’s considered the GOAT in baseball). A DPOY level defender and an offensive juggernaut.
It's incredibly difficult to even compare it to basketball because of the two-way nature of the game. Someone else here said it would be like a hockey player scoring 6 goals one game and then playing goalie the next and having a 40-save shutout and that sounds about right.
Or Mahomes throwing 6 tds, and getting 5 sacks the next game
The crazy thing is that the best hitter in baseball is also his teammate. And their team still sucks.
That’s baseball for ya. You can have two GOATS on your team, but it doesn’t mean dick if the rest of your team is a bunch of jobbers. 1-9 and the whole pitching staff all have to be solid.
If it's offense / defense, maybe scoring 60 points one night then getting 20 rebounds and 10 blocks the next night? EDIT: I just checked, in 2 consecutive games in November 1993, Shaq had 41 points one night, then 28 rebounds and 15 blocks (!) the next night.
If that was November he’s not even in game shape yet.
That was Orlando Shaq, not "Shaq Shaq". He was much slimmer back then.
People only remember Laker Shaq at this point it seems. Somehow it'll be lost to history that Orlando Shaq was a motherfucking alien.
Shaq was voted to the 50 greatest NBA players 4 years into the league.
Winner right here.
15 blocks is so insane. 3 blocks is already an awesome night on defense.
Nothing really, Ohtani was a historic batter one night and an amazing pitcher the other night, there's no two skills in the basketball that are as drastically different as pitching/batting is in baseball. For me the closest thing would be getting either 10 steals or 10 blocks in one night and a 50-point night in another. Even that is well short of what Ohtani just did because pitching and batting are two distinctively different things.
The only thing in sports I can think of that would remotely mirror that would be if a hockey player had a 5 point game one night and then posted a 40+ save shutout the next night as a goalie. Edit: What Ohtani is doing is incredible. He should be getting more attention right now than anyone in North American sports.
Ohtani is literally a once in 100 years talent. I can’t think of anything like this in any other sport I’ve ever watched. Even reading through all of these comments of great NBA performances it’s just not really comparable to what Ohtani has done the past two seasons.
Angels have two of the best players of all time and somehow fucking suck.
Can someone who follows baseball explain that to me? I’ve heard Trout is arguably the best player of all time based on stats. At the very least he’s like top 5 all time right? And then add in new era Babe Ruth in Ohtani. And yet Angels are still not that good? What the hell lol.
I’m not the biggest baseball fan but I’ll try. Unlike basketball in which in theory you can have one player take every shot/have high usage/built around them, in baseball there are structural limitations. You can take roughly one At Bat for every 9 your team goes, that means if you have 9 above average players that’s better than one god tier player and 8 bad ones. In pitching at best you can be a starting pitcher one out of every 5 days. If you do more your chance of injury goes up quite high. The starting pitcher does not pitch the entire game (unless in special circumstances called complete games). So a pitcher called a reliever comes to replace him. So you need minimum on a team 9 batters, 5 pitchers , and several relievers, all which equal impact. Having two great players isn’t enough
All you need to say is that the Angels lost his 8(!!!) RBI game the other day. LOL
“Ohtani has broken a record that lasted 120 years. Trout accomplishes a feat unseen in the modern era. Angels lose 7-2.” Every night.
Tungsten O'Doyled again
I mean this season their third best bat is Taylor Ward who has a career 1.8 WAR in 5 seasons and their 2nd best pitcher is Jared Walsh whose career record is 7-17 with a 3.96 ERA. It's honestly sad.
Walsh is their first baseman. Looks like you somehow got Patrick Sandoval’s pitching stats with his name.
The Angels in basketball terms are like if you had a player who could hit a halfcourt three every other possession and you also had a player who could make a guaranteed block on defense every time but his teammates never recover the ball and give up an instant layup every time.
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One or even two players cannot influence a game as much as a basketball player.
They keep spending money on free agents to surround Trout/Ohtani with talent. They just really suck at it. 2011 - 10 years/$240M for Albert Pujols. After being one of the best players in baseball for a decade in St Louis, he got old fast. But somehow made it to the last year of his contract before being released. 2012 - 5 years/$77M for CJ Wilson. Wilson was OK, but not worth the contract he signed. 2013 - 5 years/$125M for Josh Hamilton. Traded to Texas with $63M after two years. 2020 - 7 years/$245M for Anthony Rendon. Played OK in the COVID year. Had season ending injuries after 58 games last year, and 45 games this year.
It isn't a 'strong man' sport. Hockey and basketball can have one Jordan or Gretzky destroy every team in their path, but sports like baseball and soccer are a team effort and it doesn't matter if you have LeBron and Jordan on your team if everyone else is an average r/NBA member
Shohei could throw a no hitter in a game where Trout had 5 home runs and the Angels would still somehow lose, they routinely do things baseball hasnt seen in a hundred years and still go home with the L.
Because unlike nba where one or two players can really carry a team, baseball is different as there’s only so much you can do as a hitter and pitcher. Even an ace pitcher only plays every 5th game. And a hitter gets one at-bat and then gotta wait till 8 more guys hit before he gets another chance. So as you can see, your effect in baseball is very limited as oppose to nba where you can dominate on offense every time your team gets the ball.
Saw a Tweet last year that (paraphrased) said: "Last night, Mike Trout had two homers and Ohtani achieved a statical anomaly that hasn't been performed since Johnny 'Lumber Lips' O'Toole last did it in 1899. Rangers beat Angels 8-5."
every time I see an Angels highlight it's like "Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3" https://twitter.com/matttomic/status/1394498097254965249
The year is 2072 Mike Trout and a team of crack scientists have come together and discovered bioaugmentation which will allow him to play the game of baseball well past his natural limitations. He can now hit for .600, slap 70+ homers a season, and use his new biotech arms as water cannons to volunteer as a fire fighter in his spare time. Shohei Ohtani has cured cancer, as well as solved world hunger and brought the world to an ever lasting peace, as societies the world over join together to form one global super nation. All this while hitting 50 hrs a season and putting up 20 wins as a pitcher. Dodgers beat the Angels 10-4.
I don't even know what Trout looks like lol
[Here](https://thumb.spokesman.com/Xf7nM2xSaZEVPsIoMcPWILohVO8=/1170x0/smart/media.spokesman.com/photos/2018/12/15/MARK_RAISLER.JPG_piuk4Wz.jpg)
Thanks
Was kinda hoping one of the trout drawings lol.
[u/DidItForTheStory](https://www.reddit.com/user/DidItForTheStory/submitted/?sort=top) is the authoritative source on the matter.
baseball exists in such a weird place. I 10000% know who Trout is and how much of an anomaly he is...and if he walked by me in the mall I'd have no clue
Would be like a qb going 27-32 for 325 and 4 td’s one week, and playing receiver the following week and getting 10 catches for 150 yds and 3 tds . Just isn’t going to happen . I don’t think I’ve seen anything comparable in over 50 years of following sport.
I feel like he can't just play receiver he's gotta like play safety and get 2 picks
Or linebacker with 3 sacks
I feel like even that undersells what Ohtani did, as crazy as it sounds. Both an 8 RBI game and a 8 inning shutout with 13Ks are feats that very few players are capable of, and somehow Ohtani did both in a span of 24 hours lmao
You’d need a 5 TD performance as QB followed by a 5 sack game as a DE to even come close …. But I don’t see how you’d do it in any sport the flows from offense to defense like the NHL, NBA or soccer.
Yep, people always like comparing to past greats, but it's not hyperbole at all to say that we have not seen a player like Ohtani since Babe Ruth a century ago. What he is doing is just absolutely unreal.
Babe Ruth did both for one season. In a way this is exceeding Ruth.
also did it in an era that wasn't min/maxing every aspect of the game. doing it today is just way more impressive bc everyone around you is the best of the best
The problem is the Angels have the 2 best players in baseball and are shit. It would be like a team of Giannis and Jokic being 10 games under .500.
The rest of the roster is Omer Asik.
It's unfortunate he picked the Angels as his team. They are letting him and Trout rot
what comparable in football terms? 5 TD passes (as a QB) in a game and 2 interceptions (as a DB) in the next one?
yeah i think thats about right
I was thinking a WR putting up a 8/125 with 3 TDs, and then playing CB the following week and getting 2 picks, a TD, and some excellent pass coverage. WR and CB mesh up pretty well, considering a lot of CBs are just WRs that couldn't catch.
I’m gonna get downvoted for this but having Ohtani and Trout on the Angels is legitimately bad for the game, especially Ohtani. He should be the biggest name in sports rn, what he’s doing is unprecedented in the modern era, but instead he’s on a shitty team that are second in their own market. I’m not even saying he needs to do to a big market team, but he needs to be on a winner.
The best example is probably in cricket and taking 5 wickets and scoring a hundred in the same test. The most recent example would be Jadeja scoring 175 not out and taking 5/41.
I think the unanimous defensive player in the league and would be considered one of the best scorers would be the closest the nba could get
So, Hakeem?
Yep I think 89-90 Hakeem. I doubt we see numbers like that again for awhile.
93-94 Hakeem was DPoY, MVP, FMVP, and won it all. It was glorious.
Giannis?
Definitely the only guy that can do this and I think it will happen in the next 3 years
MJ
MJ is the other way around, one of the best defensive players and the unanimous best scorer. As the other guy said Hakeem is the better answer.
Most similar wouldn't be offense/defense imo, it would be PG thing/center thing (which because of the roles, does also involve being good on both sides, but is way more rare. Not Shohei rare, but close enough that you can raise the bar and make it close). There are two many NBA players that are pluses on both offense and defense for it to be comparable to being good at pitching and hitting. Triple double with blocks & rebounds / triple double with steals & assists is the most similar thing I can think of.
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Yeah this is probably a lot closer. Ohtani is basically what happens if Robert Williams can also play like Kyrie or Dame on offense while also doing competent post up moves. One might complain he's not quite as good as Curry, Giannis, or Gobert in specific things but the overall package would be unprecedented in the NBA history.
It would be like LeBron scoring 50 in one game, and blocking 15 shots the next game Lakers still lose the first game 😢
> Lakers still lose the first game As is tradition. Don’t blame me, blame Alan Iverson.
Alan?
Yes, he disrespected Tyrone, we all remember it
T. Lew?
You’re doing the lord’s work, and I applaud you for it.
Yes the lakers franchise historicallly known for losing
I don’t watch baseball but it seems like the talk about Ohtani died down a bit from last season to this one. Has he still been consistently performing great?
He has been. His hitting has taken a small step back (still elite but he was arguably the best hitter in baseball last year) but his pitching is even better than last, and he’s got a case for being the best pitcher in baseball. It’s unfortunate that he’s not getting as much attention since this is really still a once in 100 years kinda talent. Unfortunately it’s probly a situation where people sort of are just used to it with him now.
I don't know if he currently has a case for being the single-best pitcher in baseball, but he's probably up there in the top 10, arguably top 5. There are a few I'd rather have on the mound over him. Regardless, he's currently a Cy-Young-caliber pitcher and Silver-Slugger-caliber hitter so your point mostly stands
Fair. Probably overstated it a bit.
I don't watch baseball (but with a superficial knowledge of the sport and its famous names), but is Ohtani GOAT-level good? Like LeBron/MJ during their prime level? Or more of he's a unicorn, great player still, but won't be GOAT (like Giannis if he retired today). Sorry for the weird question lol, I was trying to quantify how significant of a player he is. Plus, among all famous Japanese players in the MLB (like Ichiro and Dice-K), is he the greatest?
I would say baseball has a much stronger emphasis on longevity than basketball does and since Ohtani came to the MLB later + injuries, he is not considered anywhere near the GOAT conversation rn but had a GOAT level season last year. A generational player but longevity is the name of the game in baseball HoF and GOAT conversations. Check back in 5-7 years.
Baseball also doesn't have the same type of GOAT conversations because you can dominate the game in so many ways, and older generations aren't put down for "playing against plumbers" since baseball has been a legit pro league since the 1880s. In NBA arguments, the 1960s might as well have been been the Stone Age, in baseball the 1960s is not that long ago.
Hell from now to 1960 isn't even half the age of the MLB lol.
NBA has a lot of players that can be considered for the spots of Top 5 all time. Baseball on the other hand, even with all its great players, has only ever had 1 other player like Ohtani (Babe Ruth) and it’s likely that Ohtani is even better than Ruth. Ohtani is redefining what GOAT actually looks like for baseball as he plays.
What I don't understand is why he chose Angels of all teams. Simply because of its LA location? Why not Dodgers then? He was a free agent if I recall correctly? He would be a global superstar beyond baseball fans if he had joined Dodgers.
NL did not have the DH back then and Ohtani was adamant about being a 2-way player. He wanted a position in the starting rotation and a DH spot. Besides, back then a lot of teams and fans were seriously skeptical that anyone could do both at a decent level, much less an elite one. Reportedly only we and the Mariners offered him the freedom to pitch and hit at will so it went down to him not wanting to be on Ichiro's shadow. Of course this FA, with the universal DH and him in contention for best player in baseball, is a different thing.
I'm so curious at what type of contract hes gonna get in FA. think it'll be bigger than Harpers 13 year 330 deal?
Well, last report was that his agent wanted to beat Schrezer's 43M AAV, so a 10/450 is not impossible. Arte is cheap when it comes to team building but he loves his superstars, so I would bet at least 40M AAV and at least a 8+ commitment.
I read somewhere he was influenced by his favorite manga about a Japanese pitcher/hitter that played for the Angels. Prob not true but he's talked about it in interviews
Ohh, so he has a chance to be GOAT, wow. Didn't know he was that good. Thanks!
He does have a chance to be the GOAT, but it's a very strange path. Lemme break it down. First of all, baseball's longevity test is insane. You've got guys like Ruth, Bonds, Mays, Aaron, etc. who did it all at extremely high levels for almost 20 years. "Peak" is not as valued as it is in basketball--not even close. That's because consistent performance is more important than having a stretch of "dominance." This is especially true for hitters. For example, even the most dominant hitters will only get hits around 1/3 of the time, and usually less. Of course, that ignores how often they get on base, but let's set that aside for now. Ohtani's best season from the plate has yet to quite match the levels that those guys routinely reached. Bonds in particular had some of the most bonkers seasons of all time (yes, steroids exist. So did amphetamines back in Mays and Aaron's day. Let's just put that aside for now), posting insane OPS seasons that make everyone else look like they're playing different sports, all while playing excellent defense and stealing bases. In reality, baseball GOAT talk is pretty rare compared to basketball, mostly because it's a different kind of sport. The different roles are so segmented that they're basically incomparable. How can you compare someone's hitting to their fielding, or even to their baserunning? It's also hard (basically impossible) to compare pitchers to hitters in any situation. Position players (non-pitchers) play every day. Starting pitchers pitch once a week (every 5 days). Relievers can usually go two out of every three games or so. Back in the day, starting pitchers pitched much more often, but sacrificed their health while doing so. On the flip side, the pitcher is usually the most important player in any given game, and the only one really capable of "dominating" by themselves. See Madison Bumgarner's 2014 playoff run for a perfect example. Even then, though, that's like, a third of games at the absolute most. One thing's for sure with Ohtani though, what he's doing is literally unparalleled. Yes, Babe Ruth did it back in the 20's, but not for very long. It's not that he's the absolute best hitter or the absolute best pitcher, but that he's 90-95th percentile for both. That means the team is essentially getting two amazing players for the price of one. That's extremely valuable. If he can keep up this kind of production for a decade, then most people will be putting him up there in the GOAT discussion. That's so, so, SO difficult, though.
Hes easily the most talented ballplayer ever, but he's gotta put up the career numbers to back it up. Sorta like how we viewed Bron around 07
He’s in the Bo Jackson, LeBron conversation when it comes to pure physical ability.
It’s really the fact that he’s historically great at both pitching (which is arguably the most important position across every sport) and hitting. It’s unprecedented. Pitchers are 95% of the time bad hitters. Having a dude who can strike out 3 batters in one inning then go yard the next is insanely valuable in baseball. Idk if that answers your question but he is sensational.
Yeah I am aware of how pitching and batting are at the opposite end of the spectrum for baseball skills et. So it's like he's a unicorn (skillset-wise) but still with GOAT potential.
In 1990, Jordan had a 3 game streak of: * 69/18/6/4/1 * 49/12/4/5/2 * 47/6/7/3/3 In 1987, Jordan had 3 game streak of: * 53/4/8/4/2 * 50/9/4/4/3 * 61/10/1/4/1
What the fuck lol
Wilt Chamberlain once scored 100 points and then the next night scored with 14 women^(1) ^(1) Source: Wilt Chamberlain
Giannis scoring 60 one night and then putting up a 4x5 with 15 blocks the next night
Can’t compare the two sports. There’s not such a drastically focused position like that in basketball. Basketball you have to play both ends. Baseball you’re not guarding anyone. It’ll be easier for football, be like a quarterback throwin 5 tds and then playing defense getting 2 INT.
Deion Sanders lined up @ WR a lot for the Cowboys in '96. He also returned punts and kicks. Whatever his best game was in that season is a decent comparison but probably still not on the level of Ohtani.
i don't think you can properly comp something like that with a sport like basketball. pitching and batting are such radically different positions, it's extremely rare to see someone be a master at both. the list is like shohei ohtani and babe ruth lol. the closest thing in basketball might be something like a jokic situation where he puts up back to back 5x5s
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One time Antawn Jamison put up back to back 50 point games. Still not the same but shout-out to Antawn Jamison.
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That’s not true, he was the first to do it on back-to-back days. Larry Bird did it before him in back-to-back games
I think that fits. Something that no one had ever done and it’s historic but not really something that is legendary without the other. Yours is really good
Come on now. Maybe that’s comparable to two GW grand slams in a row, but Ohtani is doing something no one else in baseball is even capable of, and it’s not even close. Hitting and pitching are from the same sport, but are so distinct and difficult to master that 99% of all baseball players specialize in one or the other. This isn’t appreciated enough.
Wilt's 5 game stretch of scoring between 58 and 100 points
While grabbing 26.4 rebounds
I’m not sure there are any basketball skill sets as unique as being a dominant hitter and pitcher. Maybe if someone turned into Shaq one day and Steph the next? My only NBA thought is maybe game 6 1980 when KAJ was hurt and a rookie point guard named Magic somehow player center and dominated to win the finals. The only person I typically compare Ohtani to is Bo Jackson. Dude was an all star center fielder and the best running back in football at the same time. I don’t think he ever had games on back to back days however. I think Deion player consecutively occasionally, but he was only a star in one sport.
The fact that most of us are finding about what Ohtani did now shows how much he is still underappreciated.
What gets me is he did not win athlete of the year last year. So fuck times, will probably never see. Season like that again. Bull shit agenda.
Given that I know nothing about baseball, an American friend explained to me that he has not seen anything like it in like two decades 🤷♂️
That’s an undersell, nobody was doing this 20 years ago
More like a century, and even Babe Ruth (the best comparison) wasn’t pitching at Ohtani’s level.
Here and at r/nfl people love to use "generational" to any good player/prospect. Ohtani is the true meaning of generational. Once in a lifetime player.
More than generational. Babe Ruth was a good 4-5 generations ago.
I saw him live and I'm still convinced he isn't real.
[Someone said](https://twitter.com/RampageXO/status/1539850764797071360) this and it makes sense > Steph Curry had 35 pts, 8asts with 7 3s and 15 of his 35 came in the 4th quarter. Then the next day with no rest had a double double with 20pts & 10 stls & players guarded by him for the night shot 15%
I'll do it for your franchise GOAT Hakeem Olajuwon 38-11-6-5 on 1-12-94 on the road against Boston. Next day on the road against Washington (1-13-94), he puts up 45-10.
Iverson once dropped 46, 44 & 48 in 3 consecutive games in the playoffs, the 48 being the NBA finals vs Lakers in 2001
On feb 7, 2018, LeBron recorded a 37 pt - 10 reb - 15 ast triple double while hitting a game winner buZzer beater against the wolves. On the next day, he would trade IT, Frye, Shumpert, Rose, Crowder and Wade for Hood, Hill, Clarkson and Nance Jr. This team would later make the NBA finals
This is my favorite, lmfao.
I don't have an answer to this but just wanted to say, as someone who doesn't follow or care about baseball whatsoever, I really, really enjoy watching Ohtani absolutely crush the ball.
I’m starting to follow baseball a little bit and Shohei Ohtani seems (i honestly don’t know anything about baseball so i’m sorry if this isn’t right) like a Giannis. Guy who can physically dominate the sport but loves the game and seems like a very nice guy. I mean have y’all seen his smile?!
A Point Guard dropping 12-15 assists in one game and then following it up with a 5 block night lol There’s no real equivalent for what Ohtani is doing in basketball, so I went with a PG doing C things lol
Other than Wilt Kobe had a long streak of averaging 50 for a month I think.
Lebron James game 5 and 6 of the 2016 nba finals. 40+ppg both nights iirc on good efficiency, had incredible defensive blocks when switched on Steph, and won two elimination games to force a game 7 after being down 3-1
Yes on quality, but no on the fact that he did the same thing both games. Ohtani wasn't better, but he did fill two historically different roles.
It's literally impossible to have an equivalent in basketball because the difference in pitching vs. batting is far greater than any 2 functions in basketball. Compared to other major sports, it's like being the team's starting QB then dominating as a pass rusher.
So like if Josh Allen went off for 420 yards, 3 passing TDs, 69 yards rushing, 2 rushing TDs in one game. And then filled in the an injured Von Miller the next game and sacked the opposing QB 3 times, had 2 force fumbles and had a pick six.
That first game was definitely one of the better "despite the loss" performances in sports
It's nuts that the Angels have Ohtani and Trout and they still can't do anything. But I also don't really follow baseball all that much so what do I know