ANAHEIM, Calif. — We don’t often know much about what Shohei Ohtani is truly thinking. He is politely frugal with the color and depth of his public comments.
Because of that, we don’t know for sure where he’ll go, or if he’ll go anywhere, when this season ends and free agency rolls around. That’s a fascinating twist, especially considering Ohtani is the most marvelously unique player that anyone who’s not a centenarian has ever seen.
Because of that, baseball fans both devout and casual have no choice but to read more than we perhaps should into the little things, in-season happenings that might or might not matter when it comes time for the do-everything superstar to make the winter choice that will solidify his future employment.
And because of that, you couldn’t help but wonder this week whether the ongoing freeway series — and especially the 2-0 Wednesday night victory by the Los Angeles Dodgers over Ohtani’s Angels — will sway his thought process in some way.
Will it matter that Wednesday was some sort of a microcosm of life for the Angels, with Ohtani delivering 12 strikeouts from the mound but it not being enough, despite being up against an opposing collection of bullpen pitchers? Just like six years of Ohtani and more than a decade of fellow superstar Mike Trout hasn’t been enough to save the Angels from complete postseason emptiness?
Maybe Ohtani took a glance into the stands at some point and saw a steady thread of Dodger blue, even with the midweek traffic. He certainly heard them when Freddie Freeman hit a home run off him in the fourth inning, a blow that ultimately decided the contest.
Freddie Freeman’s homer powers Dodgers in Anaheim
In a poll conducted by The Athletic, 57.2 percent of major-leaguers anonymously guessed Ohtani will be playing for southern California’s most prominent team next season, with only 11.4 percent predicting he will stay with the Angels.
At times, when the visiting supporters found their loudest voice, it felt like the Dodger fans had come to claim their man.
It is a little more complicated than that. There are always a lot of blue shirts and Dodgers cheers when their team plays in Anaheim, partially for reasons of geography and economics. If a Dodger fan lives in the southern or eastern part of L.A. it is a quicker commute, and certainly a cheaper ticket outlay, than a trip to Chavez Ravine.
And this was, after all, the first time Ohtani had pitched against the Dodgers in his career.
When it comes to what’s next, a drive up the 5 is just one option for Ohtani, because this is a player rare enough and good enough to be able to select any one of baseball’s 30 teams and have them weeping with gratitude that he chose them.
It seems he likes southern California sufficiently that the pick will probably narrow to the Dodgers, Angels and the San Diego Padres, even with the New York Mets expected to wave a weighty checkbook.
“I don’t think there’s a manager that wouldn’t want Shohei,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters. “But right now he’s an Angel.”
Angels fans like the fact he’s an Angel, and it would be the ultimate form of heartbreak for them to see him depart 30 miles north. And a double twist of the knife if he leaves just as they finally seem ready for postseason action. The Angels sit third in the American League West, but at 41-35 are shaping up as a solid bet to claim at least a wildcard spot.
Every time Ohtani pitches it becomes a notable occasion, for that’s how much he has come to mean to baseball. Angels manager Phil Nevin admitted being continually awestruck at how the 6-foot-4 28-year-old conducts himself, given the level of scrutiny he’s under and how he has to deal with the rigors of being superb at both disciplines of the game.
“He deals with a lot every day,” Nevin told me. “That’s one of the things that impresses me the most is his routine, his preparation. He is able to put a lot of things to the side and still be the best player in the world. I get to see it every day.
“What’s more impressive, away from the field, behind the scenes, how he preps his body and mind, just to be the best — and he absolutely is that.”
Ohtani is batting .292 and has already clubbed 24 home runs. His pitching record is 6-3 and his ERA 3.13, but he felt more in control of his stuff on this outing than in recent times and has a deadly repertoire. With superstar ability in both parts of the game, predictions on how much he will earn upon inking a new deal have reached as high as $60 million per year, and it is very possible the $500 million total contract threshold is broken.
But until then, the waiting game will continue. Ohtani’s future will be the biggest story of the offseason, and the Dodgers will like how their chances of landing him seem to be shaping up.
Wednesday was just another game, one of 162, but maybe, just maybe, an added piece of the puzzle.
