We keep waiting for Shohei Ohtani to be mortal, and he keeps proving he's not.
The Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar continued his otherworldly start to the season Tuesday night, striking out nine over six innings while allowing just one earned run against Miami. His ERA now sits at an absurd 0.61, and he's showing no signs of slowing down.
Let me say that again: 0.61 ERA. In late April. After five starts.
That's video game stuff. That's not supposed to be real. But Ohtani isn't real - he's something we've never seen before and might never see again.
Against the Marlins, Ohtani went six innings, allowed five hits and two runs (one earned), walked three, and struck out nine. He threw 104 pitches, 66 for strikes. It wasn't his most efficient outing, but when you're sitting on a 0.61 ERA, you're allowed a few baserunners.
The crazy part? This is just half of what he does. Ohtani is also hitting .310 with 8 home runs and 22 RBIs this season. He's an MVP candidate as both a pitcher and a hitter. That's not supposed to be possible in the modern game.
Babe Ruth did it a century ago. Nobody has done it since. And now Ohtani is doing it at a level that might exceed even Ruth's two-way dominance.
The Dodgers paid him $700 million for a reason. They structured his contract in a way that would allow them to build a championship roster around him. And right now, Ohtani is delivering on every penny of that investment.
A 0.61 ERA through five starts. Nine strikeouts on Tuesday. Still hitting for power. Still running the bases. Still doing things we've never seen before.
This is the best player in baseball. This might be the best player we've ever seen. And he's just getting started. That's what sports is all about, folks.
