Shohei Ohtani continues to carve his name into the record books
It was another historic night on the diamond for Ohtani, who joined Babe Ruth as the only player in AL/NL history to have 500 strikeouts and 100 home runs in their careers. Ohtani also matched his career-high with 13 strikeouts vs the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday evening.
Ohtani also became the fifth player since 1900 to record both 500 career hits and strikeouts along with Ruth, Smoky Joe Wood, Red Ruffing and Walter Johnson.
Speaking to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger through an interpreter Ohtani had this to say about his start and how he wanted to improve on it. "I gave up a couple of homers and I wanted to get through six or seven innings, minimum. So more than the strikeouts, I'm disappointed I couldn't pitch deeper in the game."
Trying to keep pace with the division leader Texas Rangers, the Angels needed some late-inning heroics to beat the Cardinals 6-4.
Off to another blazing start in 2023, Ohtani has excelled on the mound and at the plate. With a 4-0 record to go along with a 2.54 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 39 innings pitched while hitting .307 with 7 home runs and 19 RBI.
With his sights set on winning not only the American League MVP award in 2023, Ohtani is also chasing after the American League Cy Young award after missing out on both last season and he wasn't happy about it.
With rumors swirling about a potential trade, Angels owner Arte Moreno assured fans that Ohtani will be a part of the team as long as they are still in playoff contention.
While the season is still young, the Angels would be foolish to ship Ohtani to another team unless they got a king's ransom for the two-way star in 2023.
More must-reads: