
Shohei Ohtani's early career with the Los Angeles Angels was summed up perfectly by a 2021 tweet about the fictitious "Tungsten Arm" O'Doyle. The premise of the joke being Ohtani was accomplishing obscure, but incredible feats that hadn't happened in a baseball game since the early days of the sport. And he was doing it alongside an equally impressive Mike Trout in relative obscurity with the Angels. Some wondered whether he could possibly do it on a big stage and earn the $700 million the Dodgers gave him in free agency in 2023.
It turns out the answer to that question is a resounding yes. In 2024 he hit a career-high 54 home runs and led baseball in runs scored, RBI, OBP, SLG and OPS as he won his third MVP in four seasons. Then he homered in his first career playoff game and played through injury to help the Dodgers win the World Series in his first season with the club.