Shohei Ohtani is unreal, man. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is one of the most feared batters in today's game. Ohtani's blend of power, contact, and speed makes him one of the greatest to ever play the game. In particular, that power shows up in spectacular ways. The Los Angeles Angels were once the benefactors of Ohtani's power, but now, they found themselves on the receiving end.
In the third inning of their game against the Angels, Ohtani hit a monstrous 459-foot two-run homer to take the lead for the Dodgers. Ohtani absolutely destroyed Zach Plesac's hanging slider on a 2-0 count, posting an exit velocity of 115.5 MPH on the pitch. It was an insane swing, but for the star, it was just a regular Saturday evening.
Crazily enough, Ohtani did the same thing the night before. This time, the victim was a 91-mph four-seamer from Matt Moore that the Dodgers star sent 455 feet away. This marks the first time that any player hit multiple 450+ home runs in Dodger Stadium, at least in the StatCast era. (stat via MLB).
“Shohei Ohtani hit a 450+ foot home run in consecutive days at Dodger Stadium. Since the Statcast era (2015) nobody else has even hit multiple 450+ foot home runs at the Dodger Stadium 🤯”
Ohtani truly is out of this world. The Dodgers star is currently the favorite to win the National League MVP once again. His batting average has soared to .321 this late into the season with a 1.030 OPS, 23 home runs and 57 runs batted in. Ohtani continues to prove that Los Angeles' decision to shell out an insane amount of money for him was the right choice.
Ohtani and Dodgers' season outlook
The Dodgers continue sit comfortably on top of the NL West with a 48-31 record after the win over the Angels. However, that does not mean that all is going well for the team. There are some inconsistency issues around the team. Their starting rotation has been battered as of late, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Bobby Miller missing time recently.
To make matters worse, Mookie Betts suffered a brutal hand injury that will force him to miss six to eight weeks. Betts, who made the move to shortstop this season, was having an MVP-level season of his own. In fact, some even pegged him to be above Ohtani at one point. Betts' absence will surely be felt by the Dodgers in the next few weeks.
Still, with Ohtani and Freddie Freeman on the lineup, the Dodgers are never truly out. They also have a solid cast of hitters around their crew, including Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez, and Andy Pajes. It's just going to be a little bit tougher than the team would like, but nothing that a team of this caliber can't handle.
Help is also on the way for the Dodgers on the pitching side of things. Clayton Kershaw is slowly but surely making his way back to action, though he suffered a slight setback. LA is traversing through choppy waters, but the eight-game cushion they have should give them some breathing room to weather the storm.
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