Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers are coming to Philly. Here’s what you need to know.
As the Dodgers’ $700 million man makes his only regular-season appearance at the Bank, here’s a “Sho-time” primer on the game’s most feared hitter and his first-place team.
One bit of advice for those heading to South Philly to catch “Sho-time” this week: Don’t be late.
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was moved to the leadoff spot after Mookie Betts went down with a broken left hand. So right after the umpire yells “Play ball” on Tuesday, Ohtani will be stepping into the batter’s box and Dan Baker will be bellowing out his name. It would be awful to still be on Pattison Avenue trying to get into a parking lot when that happens.
Ohtani has hit nine homers in 19 games since manager Dave Roberts put him at the top of the lineup. His on-base percentage had been .387 when he was hitting second behind Betts. As the leadoff hitter, it’s a robust .440.
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Here are some other things to know as Ohtani makes his only regular-season trip to Philadelphia with a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies and Dodgers have the top two records in the National League, so a return trip in October is certainly possible.
Ohtani is in the top five in most hitting categories. His 28 home runs are second only to the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (32). He leads the National League in homers, is third in hitting (.314) and in RBIs (65). It’s been 87 years since the Cardinals’ Joe Medwick captured the last NL Triple Crown.
Ohtani has hit 199 home runs in his six-plus seasons in the majors (more like five-plus considering the COVID-shortened season in 2020). He’s played in 789 games with 2,830 at-bats. Impressive, but not nearly as prolific as Ryan Howard, who hit his 200th home run in his 658th game and 2,405th at-bat — quickest in MLB history.
Of course, Howard never finished fourth in Cy Young voting like Ohtani did in 2022. Ohtani had his second elbow surgery in September and is not pitching or playing the field this season.
Ohtani’s father, Toru, played semipro baseball and his mother, Kayoko, excelled at badminton.
Ohtani, who turned 30 on Friday, earlier this year passed Hideki Matsui (175 HRs) for the most home runs in major league history by a Japanese-born player. Ichiro Suzuki (117) is third on that list.
The only Japanese-born player to homer for the Phillies is Tadahito Iguchi, who hit three bombs in 2007. The Phillies have never had a Japanese-born pitcher.
Ohtani has a single and two walks in three plate appearances against Zack Wheeler, who is scheduled to start Tuesday for the Phillies. He’s 1-for-4 off Cristopher Sánchez, Wednesday’s expected starter, and has never faced Aaron Nola, who is lined up to pitch the series finale on Thursday.
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Ohtani is 7-for-23 against the Phillies all-time with two doubles and no homers. All six games he’s played against the Phils have been at CBP when he was with the Angels. This will be his first visit as a Dodger.
Ohtani made quirky MLB history as the first ghost runner in the top of the 10th on July 24, 2020. He was tagged out in a rundown and the Angels lost the game in the bottom of the 10th when Oakland’s Matt Olson hit a grand slam.
The Phillies (58-32) hold a 3½-game lead over the Dodgers (55-36) for the No. 1 seed in the NL playoffs. Milwaukee (53-38) is 5½ games back. The Phillies play at Los Angeles on Aug. 5-7.
The Angels never really threatened to make the postseason during Ohtani’s six years there, so this likely will be the first season he’ll be in the playoffs. Ohtani did win a championship in 2016 with the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japanese Pacific League.
Speaking of October, Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 25. Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank fraud and related charges for stealing $17 million off Ohtani to cover gambling debts. He’s reportedly looking at up to 33 years.
Ohtani leads the Dodgers with 20 stolen bases. He’s been caught only twice. He’s on pace for 36, which would beat his career high of 26 set in 2021.
Ohtani has always been a baseball prodigy, but that didn’t mean he was able to skirt the Japanese custom of instilling humility at an early age. “Ichiro, in his first year in high school was probably the best player on the team, but he couldn’t play,” author Robert Whiting told the Associated Press in 2022. “He had to do the laundry and cook the meals. … The same thing with Ohtani. He was cleaning toilets in high school during his first year.”
Ohtani in December signed a 10-year deal with the Dodgers for $700 million. He gets $2 million for each of the first 10 years and the other $680 million for the next 10 years. That’d buy a lot of scrubbing brushes.
Sources: Inquirer research, Baseball-Reference.com.
Series preview
The Dodgers’ starting staff has been hit by injuries — most notably to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw, and Walker Buehler. On Sunday in Milwaukee, they called up Justin Wrobleski to make his major league debut in a spot start. He gave up a pair of two-run homers in a 9-2 loss to Milwaukee.
Here are the Dodgers’ expected starters in the series against the Phillies:
Tuesday, 6:40 p.m.: Bobby Miller vs. Wheeler. The spot start made by Wrobleski was to give Miller some extra rest. This will be Miller’s fourth start since missing two months with shoulder inflammation. He has allowed three walks in each of his previous three outings.
Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.: Gavin Stone vs. Sánchez. Stone (9-2, 3.03 ERA) is having an All-Star-caliber season but was left off the NL’s roster. The rookie blanked the White Sox on June 26, the only shutout the Dodgers have thrown this season.
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Thursday, 6:05 p.m.: TBD vs. Nola. Jack Harris, the Dodgers beat writer for the L.A. Times, thinks this will be a bullpen game for the Dodgers rather than Tyler Glasnow’s next start.
Glasnow was acquired from Tampa Bay in December and given a five-year, $136.5 million deal to be the ace of the staff. The results, especially lately, have been mixed. He was solid in two of his last five starts. In his other three, he gave up five runs — and still made the All-Star team. He’s never pitched more than 120 innings, which he did last season, and he’s at 109 right now. Glasnow has never started a game at Citizens Bank Park, although he did make a relief appearance in 2018 when he was with the Pirates.
This and that
The Dodgers’ Will Smith over the weekend became just the third catcher to homer in four consecutive at-bats, joining Benito Santiago (1996) and Johnny Bench (1973). That was Santiago’s only season with the Phillies.
Smith is one of six Dodgers All-Stars. Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, injured shortstop Betts, first baseman Freddie Freeman, Glasnow and Ohtani are the others.
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Ohtani’s 28 home runs lead the National League by five over Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna going into Monday’s games. He’s bidding to become just the third Dodger to win the league’s home run title since the club moved from Brooklyn following the 1957 season. Matt Kemp (2011) and Adrian Beltre (2004) are the others.
Freeman was 11-for-24 (.458) against the Phillies last season with three homers — two of them in three games at Citizens Bank Park.
The Dodgers are 12-3 on Tuesdays, 7-8 on Wednesdays, 4-3 on Thursdays. The Phillies are 10-4, 9-5, and 3-4 on those days, respectively.