Shohei Ohtani Strikes Out 13 After Hitting 2 Home Runs the Day Before

Even while being the cover athlete for MLB The Show 22 and unanimously winning the 2021 American League MVP award, Shohei Ohtani can often feel underappreciated.

It sometimes feels like the historic nature of his accomplishments have somehow become routine, so it's worth celebrating and commemorating his performance this week.

Just the other night, Ohtani hit 2 homers and drove in 8 runs, including a game tying 3-run home run in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Not many full time hitters have multiple home run games, and even fewer hit gigantic, clutch, game tying homers in the 9th. That would be a week's worth of accomplishments by itself.

But Ohtani wasn't done.

As the next day's starting pitcher, Ohtani delivered a Cy Young level start, striking out a career high 13 over a masterful 8 inning, zero run performance.

That doesn't even fully capture his dominance. At one point he retired 16 straight Royals hitters and 23 of 24, leading the Angels to a 5-0 win.

It's often said of MLB stars that they're a once in a generation talent.

Ohtani is a once in a lifetime talent.

This kind of output - 46 home runs, 26 steals and an MVP award last year, to a batting line 31% better than league average this year while also putting up a 2.90 ERA, arguably his best pitching season yet - should simply be impossible.

Baseball fans are witnessing history nearly every time Ohtani does anything.

Although of course, given he plays for the Angels, it hasn't been enough to avoid an under .500 record and 11 game division deficit to this point in the season.