Major League Baseball is debuting a new :30 spot today celebrating the historic first half performance of Shohei Ohtani leading into the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and 91st MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard.
The spot highlights Ohtani’s incredible versatility as MLB’s first two-way All-Star in history and finishes with “It’s Sho-time.” It will air on FOX, FS1, TBS, during the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN and the All-Star Game on FOX, over all MLB media outlets including MLB Network, MLB.com, and MLB.TV, and across numerous digital and social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.
See the spot here: It’s Sho-Time
Ohtani’s performance during 2021 is unparalleled in Major League Baseball history. His list of accomplishments include:
· The first player to ever be selected an All-Star as both a position player and a pitcher.
· The first Home Run Derby participant who has also started a game on the mound.
· The first Japanese-born player to participate in the Derby.
· The most home runs hit in a single season by a Japanese player in MLB history, a feat he accomplished in only his 81st game of the season as a hitter.
· Ohtani has hit more home runs and struck out more batters in the first half of the 2021 season than Babe Ruth did in the first half of his two-way seasons of 1918 and 1919 combined.
· Became the first pitcher to make multiple starts in a season while also leading MLB in home runs since Boston’s Babe Ruth in 1919.
· The first player in MLB history to have 32 home runs and 12 stolen bases before the All-Star break.
· The 10 most-watched games in Japan have all been Angels games.
· The Derby will be televised in Japan live on terrestrial (free) TV on NHK G for the first time in at least 25 years.
· Most-searched player on MLB Film Room powered by Google Cloud, both domestically and internationally, during the 2021 season.
MLB All-Star Week includes the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard (July 13th), Gatorade All- Star Workout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 12th), All-Star Sunday featuring the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Celebrity Softball Game (July 11th), the MLB Draft (July 11th- 13th) and PLAY BALL PARK at the Colorado Convention Center (July 9th-13th), plus a lineup of additional events taking place around the city. The 91st Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by 70 partners in 15 languages across 223 countries and territories. FOX Deportes will provide Spanish language coverage in the United States, while ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and SiriusXM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information about MLB All-Star Week, including ticket information and updates, please visit www.allstargame.com and follow @MLB and @AllStarGame on social media.
