Dan Zaksheske
Videos by OutKick
Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout had a showdown for the ages at the World Baseball Classic. Ohtani struck Trout out, clinching the title for Japan over the United States.
But baseball’s two best players are back playing for their MLB team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. That’s still the dumbest name in American professional sports, by the way.
But I digress. I don’t want to get too far from the important story here. Teammates Ohtani and Trout are back to batting in the same lineup, instead of facing one another.
The Angels started the season 1-1, losing to the Oakland A’s on Opening Day before hanging a 13-spot on the Athletics on Saturday. The biggest story to come out of the weekend, though, didn’t involve either Trout or Ohtani.
Anthony Rendon had an altercation with a fan on Thursday, in which he took a swing at the man who was allegedly heckling him.
But the Angels bounced back from the loss and the Rendon incident for the blowout victory on Saturday. Despite the massive run output, though, neither Trout nor Ohtani took one out of the yard.
But that changed for both on Sunday afternoon, and changed in a hurry.
In the fifth inning, with the Angels up 3-0, Mike Trout blasted a 1-1 pitch from Oakland left-hander Ken Waldichuk.
On the very next pitch, Ohtani joined him.
It’s better when Trout and Ohtani are teammates. Although, for the sake of all baseball fans, hopefully they be teammates on a team that actually, you know, reaches the playoffs at some point.
One can dream.
Follow Dan Zaksheske on Twitter: @RealDanZak
