The season for Shohei Ohtani (29, LA Angels) has finally opened. He performed splendidly as the main character, but from the opening game, his team caught Ohtani’s ankle ‘again’.
On the 31st (Korean time), Ohtani started as a starting pitcher and designated hitter number 3 in the opening game against the Oakland Athletics in the 2023 Major League (MLB) held at the Oakland Coliseum in California, USA.
On this day, Ohtani recorded only 2 hits in 6 innings as a pitcher, striking out 10 and leaving no runs. He recorded a maximum speed of 162 km per hour with a fastball, and mixed the breaking ball appropriately to dominate the Oakland lineup. He also excelled as a hitter. At the beginning of the 4th inning, Oakland starter Kyle Muller attacked a 148km/h fastball, and hit the first hit this season with a right-handed hit with a powerful ball reaching 180km/h. In the 8th inning, he also got an intentional walk and finished the day with a multi-on base.
Ohtani is the superstar that is receiving the most attention throughout MLB this season. Over the past two years, he has been the best in all of MLB. He won the American League (AL) MVP (Most Valuable Player) in 2021, and was also ranked second in MVP in 2022. Although he was not awarded the award due to Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, who set a new AL home run record, he recorded 15 wins and 9 losses with an ERA of 2.33 as a pitcher, writing his first regular innings and pitching career high.
Just before the season, he made his name by participating in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC). He led the team to victory as an ace and center hitter. In particular, he came to the mound as a closer in the finals. As the last opponent, he met Mike Trout, the captain of the U.S. national team and a teammate of the Angels, who is considered the best active player, and struck out on a swing to decide the team championship.
As for Ohtani, who is at the peak of his prowess, this season is even more important. This is because he will become a free agent (FA) after the season ends. Having entered the MLB in 2018, he has been running with a relatively cheap salary, but after this season, he is expected to literally sign a historic contract. His annual salary for this season is $ 30 million, but his future contract size is predicted to be over 500 million dollars for a period of more than 10 years.
As befits an important season, he played a big role from his first game. But he didn’t really win. The Angels lost 1-2 despite Ohtani’s performance. The Angels got the first point with Logan Ohoff’s timely hit to the left in the top of the 5th inning when Ohtani was on the mound with one out and third base. Ohtani, who had met the victory requirements, passed the mound in the 7th inning, but trouble began in the 8th inning.토토사이트 Aaron Roof, who took the mound in the 8th inning, got a right-handed hit by Esteuri Lewis and then hit a mid-month double by Tony Kemp, allowing the game to tie 1-1. The Angels changed the mound to Ryan Tepera, but he also gave up a timely hit to Aledmis Dias, and the team turned 1-2. The team couldn’t turn around again and ended up losing.