DENVER – Consider for a moment that in a span of roughly 24 hours, Shohei Ohtani will have competed in the home run derby, batted leadoff for the American League as the designated hitter and then taken the mound for them as the starting pitcher.
Unprecedented stuff befitting an unprecedented talent, one that comparisons to Babe Ruth aside, is testing the physical boundaries modelled out for baseball players.
Never mind, then, that he lost in the first-round of the derby to Juan Soto after tying at 22 in their opening allotment of time, matching up again at 28 following a minute of extra time and then missing on his first hack once the Washington National went 3-for-3 in his end of a swing-off.
The two-way Los Angeles Angels star was still mesmerizing, hooking balls down the line early in his time as if Munenori Kawasaki had subbed in wearing an Ohtani bodysuit, then rallying as only he can, flicking his wrists and sending balls into the third deck of Coors Field.
Once it was done, the electric anticipation that had preceded his round seemed sucked out of the thin Rockies air, the energy down noticeably as the semifinals and final played out, won 23-22 by Pete Alonso over Trey Mancini.
Mancini, continuing his remarkable comeback from Stage 3 colon cancer that was diagnosed in March 2020 and required surgery to remove a malignant tumour, further diminished the buzz by eliminating local hero Trevor Story 13-12 in one semifinal.
Pete Alonso then comfortably knocked out Soto 16-15 with time to spare, pausing when two homers short to try and pump up the fans. They responded with some cheers and he promptly finished the task on a 30 C night.
In the final, Mancini started and hit 22 out of the gate but Alonso is made for this event, bobbing his head to the stadium music as he stepped into the batter’s box and methodically launched homer after homer to track down the Baltimore Orioles first baseman.
He hit 17 in his regular time and then added the final six on consecutive swings in his one-minute bonus.
Alonso, the defending champion from 2019 when he survived an epic challenge from then Toronto Blue Jays rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr., put on another show in the first round with 35 homers, and then sat back as Salavador Perez gave him a good go with 28.
Mancini narrowly edged Matt Olson 24-23, the Oakland Athletics masher’s last swing just hooking foul at the last moment, while Story edged out Joey Gallo 20-19.
The crowd of 49,098 was clearly behind Ohtani, who is accomplishing a series of firsts this week. He’s the first player selected to the all-star game as both a player (elected by fans) and a pitcher (voted in by his peers), the first Japanese participant in the derby and the first player to participate in the derby and then not only pitch the next day, but also start
Ohtani said he wasn’t expecting to be selected to the game as a pitcher, let alone named the starter, while the Midsummer Classic’s rules were amended so that he could be treated as separate players in each of his two roles.
“This is what the fans want to see. It’s personally what I want to see. And to have the opportunity to do something with a generational talent, pretty special,” said Kevin Cash, the American League manager. “I begged Major League Baseball to tweak the rule for the all-star game, because if they didn’t, I know I’d screw it up the rest of the way, pulling pinch-hitters and DHs.”
Why do it all?
“I’m expecting to be pretty fatigued and exhausted after these two days, but there’s a lot of people that want to watch it and I want to make those guys happy,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “That’s why I’m going to do it.”
Wisely, no one’s going to stop him.
