Once upon a time, a group of Angels stumbled upon a magical unicorn. The Angels took in the unicorn back to their struggling kingdom in hopes the Unicorn will help them become the most powerful kingdom in all of the world. The Unicorn was greeted by a goat named ‘Trout’ and they worked together to battle out the other kingdoms. They were put in charge to lead the pack of unidentified angels to prosperity but have failed every year since stumbling across the magical unicorn. The kingdom is struggling to be the best, even with the two best magical creatures on their side they still are hopeless with defeat.

This is a folklore on the tales of Shohei Ohtani and the Angels, and that year in year out the Angels miss the playoffs. Even with having the two best players in the league they still struggle to remain on top or to even make it to the playoffs. Ohtani is a special once in a blue moon type player and to pair him with Mike Trout is insanity nonetheless mind boggling when they don’t reach the playoffs. He is set to become the first $500 million+ contract player in major league history after he completes the 2023 season with the Angels. 

The Angels are in a tough situation to be in and there is no definite answer for the Angels. Either keep Ohtani on the team the full year and make it to the playoffs and try to win it all. Or if the Angels keep struggling, trade him by the deadline for a huge package back. Or hopefully this is not the case and the Angels are not in contention but still decide to keep Ohtani off the trade market. It’s a tough conundrum for Angels ownership to deal with. In the meantime all we can do as baseball fans is wait till anything happens, as of now the Angels are hoping this is the year they make it back since 2014 when they lost to the Royals in the 2014 ALDS in 3 games. They just have to take the games one day at a time. It may be his last season in Anaheim, so lets just enjoy the ShoTime as he counts down his last days. And oh boy, Ohtani is really showing up big time in the most crucial season yet for him.

Shohei Ohtani is setting the world on fire each and every day. From elite pitching numbers to insane batting, to playing elite defense in the field, to being the WBC MVP for team Japan to demolishing homeruns at the home run derby, there is nothing too far for Ohtani to do. Beating out any and all records sets no tone for what this Japanese superstar is capable of. Everyone already knew there was no question to be had with the greatest player of all time, with what was accomplished already it seemed Ohtani could not possibly become even better. 

Well so we thought, the unicorn has only gotten better this year. In 20 games this year he command a 2.0WAR. At this rate he is on pace to shatter the all time single season WAR record held by the previous two-way player in Babe Ruth. Ruth collected 14.5 WAR in 1923, and this was after Ruth decided to just stick to hitting in his career. Imagine what this could have been if Ruth decided to stick through with pitching. Now 100 years later this record could be broken easily with Ohtani on pace to have 16.5 WAR this season. And that is just the prediction but knowing Ohtani this could skyrocket to 20. 

100 years later and this historical record is on pace to be broken. With the bat Ohtani commands 19 hits in 23 games, 4 home runs and 11 RBIs, giving him a slash line of .250/.337/.434/.771. Nothing to gauck about just yet as his numbers are not at an MVP type caliber, he is still 14% above league average for hitting. But even if Ohtani shlumps this season in hitting but still has a bountiful pitching season and has an above league average OPS+ then Ohtani could still win the CY Young and MVP in the same year. This hasn’t been done since Clayton Kershaw took home both awards for the Dodgers in 2014. Kershaw won the award with a 21-3 record, 1.77 ERA, a FIP below 1 and an ERA+ standing at 197. It was a terrific season on all levels of pedigree for Kerhaw, I don’t believe Ohtani can replicate these numbers for a full season but it’s definitely worth a shot of promise given the numbers he is putting up on the mound.

Through 23 games and 28 innings pitched, Ohtani has produced more runs (11) than he has allowed (2). That lowers his ERA to a whopping 0.64 through 3 wins he’s been able to achieve effortlessly. He ranks first in ERA in front of Gerrit Cole who has a 0.79 ERA in 34 innings. Ohtani is also in the top 5 in strikeouts, WHIP, first in OBA, and the only AL pitcher with an OBA under 1.00. That is absurd, considering the fact he is doing this before his contract year, it will make him one of few players since 2016 to sign an extensive contract after a historical MVP season. We’ve seen this with Aaron Judge last year and Freddie Freeman in 2020.

With a stat line that bizarre Ohtani’s ERA+ is 718% better than the average pitcher’s ERA (100). It will be quite interesting to see how much Ohtani commands over free agency, he is definitely a 550+ million player, and hopefully he ends up out of Anaheim. It has been 9 years since the Angels last made it the playoffs and they haven’t made it passed the ALDS. There really hasn’t been much luck with Perry Minasian and the Angels, too many bad and long contracts in a 10 year span. It seems inevitable more bad luck will strike with Ohtani leaving next season. Even if they offer a substantial amount of money Ohtani deserves better and deserves to be on a playoff contending team year in and year out. I guess we will wait to see what happens, I sense an owner in Queens will fix that issue…. 2024 offseason is coming… and Steve Cohen is hungry.