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Why You Should Care About Shohei Ohtani
He’s already the best baseball player of all time
Are you a baseball fan? The odds are, you’re a casual fan at best. I hate to admit that baseball is dying — because it’s always been my favorite sport — but the numbers don’t lie.
A 14% decline in attendance since 2011–2012. World Series viewership down 50% since 2016. Yet teams continue charging more and suckers like me keep paying. So revenues are actually quite healthy.
Enter Shohei Ohtani into this world of disappearing eyeballs.
For the uninitiated, Ohtani is the first player since Babe Ruth to consistently play two ways as both an elite pitcher and hitter. He was the American League MVP in 2021, led Japan to a gold medal in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and has made the All-Star team each of the past three seasons.
That’s just the beginning. Recently, he played a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. Ohtani pitched the entire first game, giving up no runs (which most full-time pitchers can’t accomplish). After throwing over 100 pitches of brilliance, he was the designated hitter for game two and hit two home runs against the Tigers’ pitchers (which most full-time hitters can’t do).
