Tuesday’s final of the World Baseball Classic came down to a matchup that was straight out of a movie script. It was a one-run game with two outs, and two of the greatest talents to ever play baseball — who also happen to be MLB teammates — were facing each other with a championship on the line.
Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout. How could it get any better than that?
Well, Ohtani found a way.
We’ve heard plenty about Trout’s legendary career, especially written here at For The Win. Despite playing for the lowly Angels, Trout is statistically one of the best players in baseball history. But Ohtani is a true generational unicorn — an elite two-way player not seen since the Babe Ruth era — and he managed to strike out his Angels teammate in a way that few pitchers have ever managed to pull off.
If you aren't impressed, you should be. Mike Trout has had 3 swinging strikes in only 24 of his 6,174 career MLB plate appearances!pic.twitter.com/VTlcRnAgPH
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 22, 2023
Ohtani struck out Trout in an at-bat that had three swinging strikes. In Trout’s entire big-league career, he’s only had 24 such at-bats (a strikeout with three swinging strikes in the plate appearance) out of 6,174 plate appearances. And Ohtani managed to do that in the first time they had ever faced each other.
That’s just an incredible stat that speaks to Ohtani’s greatness — along with Trout’s.
MLB fans were justifiably impressed by that fact.
This was how Twitter reacted
This happens to Trout maybe twice per season.
And it happened the one time he faces Shohei. https://t.co/Ohg8hS6yI8
— Jamie Mottram (@JamieMottram) March 22, 2023
This is an INSANE stat. Last pitch was absolutely filthy https://t.co/1bkdzKI4BS
— Spittin Seeds (@SpittinSeeds247) March 22, 2023
How is this a real stat? https://t.co/RTvcXi0N3f
— Ben Natan (@thebennatan) March 22, 2023
Context makes this even more impressive. In a defining moment on the grand stage, Ohtani cooked him. https://t.co/TLxmRqTdBN
— j i m m y (@Deftobez) March 22, 2023
That last pitch was so nasty no one in the world is hitting that https://t.co/z2KakFLNDx
— joyal (@PHILLYJOYAL_) March 22, 2023
This is a mind blowing stat. https://t.co/qvfFUEcAKE
— Steve Angelovich (@angelsteve89) March 22, 2023
I still can't get over how epic last night was.
What a fantastic tournament with the perfect ending for baseball fans.
Ohtani 🐐 https://t.co/YKXGIde6gs
— Chris Meaney (@chrismeaney) March 22, 2023
what a stat https://t.co/fYTX00QkQX
— 🏆🏆Russell Resthaven💍💍 (@dreadcraft) March 22, 2023
This is such an insane stat https://t.co/zrtpOT2BLh
— KPT91 (@KPT_91) March 22, 2023
holy stat of the day https://t.co/ea0V9HcaJK
— jeremy taché (@jeremytache) March 22, 2023
Might be the craziest stat I’ve ever seen https://t.co/BhuTqx8kmJ
— jimmyjames (@JimGat8) March 22, 2023
i still can’t get over this fact like this is some barry bonds level stat https://t.co/LBMkUSK2r0
— 🎺 Steven 🎺 (@EDWlNDlAZ) March 22, 2023
Baseball truly won on Tuesday night.
