On Saturday night, Los Angeles Angeles made a bit of history in Oakland, bipartisan superstar Shohei Ohtani, as they battled their AL West rivals.
With the Halos leading 6-1 at the top of the fifth inning and Mike Trout in the second base, Ohtani sent a ball outside the wall to the center field for a two-run shot, which was the home run of his 100th career.
On Sunday, Ohtani was in it again and hit a two-run blast.
With his home runs over the weekend, Ohtani became the third Japanese-born player to hit at least 100 home runs in his career, joined by Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui.
The Sporting News did a graphic tweet comparing the three greats and their career power numbers.
Shohei Ohtani became the third player of Japanese descent to score at least 100 home runs in the MLB. pic.twitter.com/yntwc5yGTx
– Sporting News MLB (sn_mlb) May 15, 2022
Ohtani for the sake of history
Ohtani is already something special, but he is on track to do more to solidify his position as the best baseball player.
He can pitch and hit and both effectively.
It is not that one is power and the other is not.
But it’s a tough company for Ohtani.
Consider the two players in that company.
And those guys have just scored more than 100 home runs in their careers.
Ohtani in his fifth season in the big league.
The kind of power he has, he is ready to break the record of 175-home run set by Matsui.
When people say that Ohtani is a modern day baby Ruth, they are moving towards something.
This man is something special and can do it all.
And when he finally breaks the home run record by a player of Japanese descent, he will solidify his place as the best Japanese-born player in the history of the game.