In a game that was shaping up to be an absolute rout, there was one matchup that still intrigued the fans. This was the story of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ meeting against the Pittsburgh Pirates. On one side was the Pirates’ firebreathing rookie Paul Skenes and on the other were the Dodgers’ batters. But more importantly, Shohei Ohtani was going against Skenes for the first time; the atmosphere was electrifying, as were their two rounds.

“I like to call that big on big,” Paul Skenes said later on about their matchup (per MLB.com). A battle that was a tale of two halves—one won by Skenes and the other won by Ohtani. The Pirates rookie’s 100 mph+ fastballs initially troubled Ohtani. During his first at-bat, the superstar was struck out in three straight fastballs. “The stuff itself was really good,” Ohtani said later on. “As you saw in the first at-bat, I couldn’t really put together good swings.” But then, isn’t it on brand for Ohtani to learn quickly?

Then came the second at-bat in the 3rd inning. This time, the stakes were even higher. James Paxton had given away 6 runs in the last inning and the Dodgers were behind by 7 runs. Skenes once again attacked Ohtani with similar fastballs (nearly all of them over 99 mph). But this time, Ohtani caught on and delivered a massive two-run homer on Skenes’ 100 mph+ fastball. That surely calls for a celebration, right? It would have had the Blue Crews not been getting completely dominated.

Despite that two-run homer, the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn’t regain momentum. They could never close the gap completely and eventually, lost 10-6. For Skenes, this was another win, and for the Dodgers, another loss. That gave the fans a chance to troll Ohtani and the $1 billion-spending Blue Crew. 

After all, the Dodgers have been awfully quiet for a long time now. Despite maintaining a winning record, their batters can’t get hits. That is a big issue, but for rival fans, that’s a great excuse to indulge in a little banter.

Shohei Ohtani’s fruitless endeavor sparks massive fan war

Even though the Los Angeles Dodgers fans were celebrating the scenes, the rival fans couldn’t stop reminding them of the scoreline. “Chris Paul hits a 3 to cut the lead to 42,” said a fan. This was about a popular basketball meme about Chris Paul hitting a 3-pointer against the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Semi-finals in 2021. The fact that his team, the Phoenix Suns, was 45 points behind in the fourth quarter essentially made it pointless. Something similar was the case here, with the Dodgers being 5 runs behind even after Ohtani’s homer.

“They losing but dis a good battle,” another fan wrote. Certainly, watching a future superstar go up against the present megastar is amazing. So is the fact that Skenes and Ohtani both essentially had each other’s numbers in their interactions. That bodes well for Paul Skenes’ future.

“And here comes the haters…Skenes will probably strike out 5 more Dodgers today,” a Pirates fan said. Though Skenes wouldn’t go on to do exactly that, in the end, the rookie had a record 8 strikeouts. That’s a remarkable result against a team whose hitting staff is quite scary, even when it isn’t performing as well as it could currently. 

“Skenes glazers currently in shambles,” a Dodgers fan said. Maybe they’d be in shambles but his team wasn’t losing. Despite Shohei Ohtani’s home run, the Pirates won in a dominating fashion. Perhaps Skenes would enjoy adding a win to his column more even after a home run was scored against him.

And finally, a fan said, “This is once in a lifetime matchup,” Perhaps it is. But then, Skenes has just begun and there will be many more such matchups between the two. Will the following ones be as hot as this one? That’s up for discussion. But one can’t deny that after what we witnessed today, nearly every fan will be hooked on their television set during their rematch.