After the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series (NLCS), Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts addressed the crowd and media. He remarked:
Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball. Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!
Roberts’ comment wasn’t just trash talk after a win. It was a strategic public statement: He acknowledged critics blaming the Dodgers for “ruining baseball" and this Giants fan could not agree more. They have the second highest payroll in MLB. They have won the NL West eleven of the last twelve years. I used to believe what the orange and black meme reported: the West can't be bought, it must be won. I guess we were wrong, but so are the critics. How? Why?
While I believe there are strong argument for spending, competitive fairness, and what teams who flex a strong financial muscle do to the equation there's an individual—a highly paid, strongly coveted one—who is doing anything but ruining the game. He's illuminating it and it's magic. His name is Shohei Ohtani.
For those of you who have only heard his name until now, as I like to say—no, he's not Irish. Ohtani, Shohei as he is known when he goes to bat in Japan (surname is always first) was born on July 5, 1994 in Mizusawa (now part of Ōshū), a city in Iwate Prefecture, located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. If I were to offer a comparison to a city in the U.S., Bangor, Maine might suffice.
He is a hitting slugger and a slugging hitter. He bats left and throws right—quite often in the same game. His swing is violent but elegant and at times he makes hitting the curve look laughably easy. Although the term "unicorn" is often overused, in this instance it's fitting. He's not a myth, he's a man and will be a legend. He's worth watching in the 2025 World Series, despite the fact he wears Dodger Blue.
I've written about him before (ISO Creativity...Thank you Shohei Ohtani and The Virtues of Video Games by way of Shohei Ohtani), but he's worth highlighting here and now because this postseason offers a chance to see history and beauty, wonder and awe in action. It's not too late.
For those who are unaware, on Friday, October 17, 2025, Ohtani pitched six-plus scoreless innings and struck out 10. He also had the 13th three-homer game in postseason history — the first, it goes without saying, that included walking off the pitcher’s mound to a standing ovation. Chelsea James of the Washington Post writes,
Certainly, by the time he hit his third homer in the seventh inning and sent many of his teammates’ heads into their hands in disbelief, everyone in the ballpark knew they were watching the greatest game any player had ever played.
This is Beethoven at a piano. This is Shakespeare with a quill. This is Michael Jordan in the Finals. This is Tiger Woods in Sunday red.
Yes, nights such as Friday’s are Ohtani’s job. But perhaps more than for any other player in recent years, it is clear they are also his calling. Ohtani is what happens when someone awarded a unique dose of genius follows its lead and ends up where they both belong. He is that rare baseball talent so gifted that no slump ever feels more than a few swings away from ending. His confidence is so durable, it is as if he believes success is fated by now.
Unlike Bob Dylan, Ohtani was not "A Complete Unknown." As featured in the "60 Minutes" interview from 2017, "Shotime" was widely considered a once-in-a-generation talent." During the 13-minute feature, Jon Wertheim reveals that at the age of 18, Ohtani held a press conference to announce his Major League intentions. He went so far as to tell Japanese teams not to draft him. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters drafted him anyway (first round, 2012), and successfully convinced him to stay in Japan by promising he could be both a pitcher and a hitter. This decision made headlines across Japan as no other professional team made that offer. To say in "a star was born" is short-sighted. Rather, a star shone in the East before it went West.
What might be the most interesting part of this profile is the way that Shohei was coached as a Fighter. The manager Hideki Kuriyama was short on praise. Shohei said "last year when we won the championship, that was the first time he gave me a compliment. He said, 'that was great pitching'." Incredulous, Wertheim repeats, "Never complimented you before that?" Ohtani pauses, shakes his head and retorts, "not once. He always says, you've got to get better." While this style of managing may not ruin baseball or a baseball player—it is certainly interesting and worth further consideration. It worked.
Kuriyama explained his rationale. He said "I truly believed he's a lot better than where he's at right now." Dodger fans—heck any baseball can thank him. Kuriyama was right.
Under no certain terms, would I ever purchase or wear a Dodger jersey. However, if I were to consider that plight, I wouldn't think long or hard. I would purchase #17 in honor of Shoehei Ohtani. He has not ruined baseball, he's only made it more interesting, exciting, and beautiful.
Photo Credits
Pitching
Hitting
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