Shohei Ohtani spent the first 126 games of the season making a case to receive more than half a billion dollars when he becomes a free agent this year. Then, in Game 127, he demonstrated why some teams may be reluctant to sign him at all.
When he hits and pitches, blasting 500-foot home runs and uncorking 101-mph fastballs, Ohtani can blow our minds. But when he hits and pitches, he can also blow out his ligaments. Ohtani has torn the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow for the second time in his career, the Angels announced late Wednesday night after he left his start as a pitcher after four outs and as a hitter after one at bat (a home run, of course). He may require a second Tommy John surgery, which would sideline him as a pitcher for at least a year. In any event, he will not return to the mound this season, and he may well be done as a hitter, too. He has not addressed the media and Angels officials have not answered questions about specifically what the next month holds.
This development will have virtually no effect on the Angels’ season, which is over in every way except mathematically. But it could reshape the course of the sport for the next decade.
