The legend of Shohei Ohtani grows with every stop of his unprecedented two-way tour, but so does the pathos. This is what New York can do. The footlights of its stage are so bright as to expose and exaggerate truth. Not even Ohtani in all his greatness, and even in partnership with Mike Trout, might be able to save the Angels from their usual appointment with mediocrity.
Two nights at Yankee Stadium exposed the sweet and sour of what might be Ohtani’s last season with the Angels. A 5–2 win Tuesday in which Ohtani homered was followed by a 3–2 loss Wednesday in which Aaron Judge robbed him of a homer in a plot twist that looked like something ripped off from Guardians of the Galaxy, the 2022 MVP winning a battle of superpowers by mere inches over the 2021 MVP.
And so the beat goes on ... the Angels dropping to 9–9 even with a healthy Ohtani, Trout and Anthony Rendon, their three $30-plus million players. Ohtani has never played on a winning team in the majors. Since he joined the Angels in 2018, they are 70–49 (.588) when he hits a home run and 267–340 (.440) when he doesn’t. Watching Ohtani languish with the Angels is like scoring tickets to a Springsteen show—and finding out it’s all acoustic. Cool, but you know something is missing.
