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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

Everyone should probably address the Los Angeles Dodgers icon as ‘The Shohei Ohtani’ right now. The man is literally redefining the sport as we knew it. He made it to the 40-40 last month and started the entire discussion of—whether he can make it to the never-done before 50-50! Lo-and-behold, he opened the floodgates to the legendary club, a realm that no player has reached yet.

But he didn’t just hit the 50th home run and call it a day! Ohtani ensured that the entire game would go down in history with the insane stats. He hit three home runs, stole two bases, and drove in 10 RBIs. And all this in just one game. Ben Verlander, who now is a sports analyst but was a minor league player, made a bold statement on Ohtani; he called everything the star did—fake.

Are Shohei Ohtani’s wins fake?

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Shohei Ohtani didn’t stop at 50 home runs and 50 homers. At the same game, he finished with a 51-51. But everyone was so engrossed by the fact that he achieved what most thought wasn’t possible—the 51-51 feat was going under the rug. The local newspaper, believe it or not, even when elections were ablaze, plastered a huge headline with 51-51 written to remind everyone of Ohtani’s greatness. Yet Verlander calls him fake? But there is more to the story!

USA Today via Reuters

Verlander is the brother of Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander. But before anyone goes blazing towards him, in his podcast, The Flippin Bats, Verlander appreciated Shohei Ohtani.Everything with Shohei feels fake. It feels out of a storybook. It feels like fiction, but it’s not. First game in MLB history with three home runs and two stolen bases,” said Verlander.

And he isn’t wrong. Shohei did, after all, accomplish something that baseball players haven’t been able to do in their careers. Ohtani achieved it all in one single game. It’s not wrong to see why he is called the Babe Ruth of today by his peers. Recently, even Rich Eisen was out of words, with the Dodger’s star saying, “It’s the greatest day by a hitter ever in the history of baseball. That is not an exaggeration.” It seems like Ohtani and his story against the world. Meanwhile, he seems to have no pauses in his system.

The Los Angeles Dodgers had many of their stars missing from their lineup this season for a good while. The reason is injuries. While Ohtani himself was recovering, he has been a regular at the diamond. And once again, at the series of Dodgers vs. the Colorado Rockies, he was out to kill!

It’s Shohei Ohtani’s world; we are living in it!

At the game with the Colorado Rockies, Ohtani was humbled. Because a crowd of fans were applauding him for his 50-50 feat. And well, he did what he does best—repaid the love with even more hits. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a nail-biting win against the Rockies with 6-5! It was a close call, no doubt, but they aced it, and it put the Dodgers one game ahead of the Phillies in the top spot for their National League playoffs.

USA Today via Reuters

Mookie Betts had an amazing walk-off home run, but again, Shohei Ohtani proved that this is his world; we are just living in it! He finished the game with a 4-for-5 performance, including a home run and two stolen bases. So with that, his stats sit at 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases. If you had any doubts about whether he is the kind of baseball now, this just clears it all up!

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Ohtani’s stats over the last four games have been insane. According to @OptaSTATS, here’s what all he’s been able to achieve.

  • 14 hits
  • 13 RBIs
  • 6 stolen bases
  • 5 home runs

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Now if one were to combine the best four-game spans of every Major League Baseball player since 1920 in each of those categories, not one would come close to the stats. Such is Ohtani’s command over the game now.

While the team and Ohtani might be over the moon, they have to be back in action on Monday against the San Diego Padres. It’s a critical game as the opposition is just 3.0 games behind them and could still have a shot at the divisional title. Who do you think will win here? Let us know!