Dodgers Dugout: Shohei Ohtani has a flair for the dramatic

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. I’m not sure where or when the Dodgers got this Shohei Ohtani guy, and it might be too soon to tell, but he appears to be pretty good.

Sho time

Well, the master of the dramatic, Shohei Ohtani did it again Wednesday night. On his first bobblehead night of the season, he hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Atlanta Braves and run the Dodgers’ record to 8-0.

Ohtani seems to know what the moment calls for. He joined the 50-50 club last season in a game in which he hit three homers, two doubles and a single, stole two bases, scored four runs and had 10 RBIs.

In Game 1 of the NLDS, it looked like the Padres were writing a familiar script against the Dodgers, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Then Ohtani hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the second that changed the feeling of the game and the series.

And then there was Wednesday,

And there are more examples than that.

I don’t like to pick on other teams in this newsletter (OK, except for the Padres and Houston Asterisks), but... what were the Angels doing? They had this guy for five seasons and didn’t come close to getting any of the publicity or marketing juice out of Ohtani that the Dodgers have gotten in barely over one season. And during his time with the Angels, remember, Ohtani won two MVP awards and finished fourth in Cy Young voting. Yet if you drove around the L.A. or Orange County areas, you’d barely see any advertising about Ohtani. And the Angels are owned by a guy who owned billboards for a living.

But their loss is the Dodgers’ gain. On a team filled with stars, Ohtani is the brightest of all. And if he does return to the mound, he could be even brighter. Enjoy it while you can.

The natural comparison for Ohtani is Babe Ruth. Let’s check their batting stats through 868 games:

Batting average
Ruth: .338
Ohtani: .282

OB%
Ruth: .469
Ohtani: .372

SLG%
Ruth: .696
Ohtani: .575

Plate appearances
Ruth: 3,477
Ohtani: 3,639

Hits
Ruth: 935
Ohtani: 888

Doubles
Ruth: 206
Ohtani: 168

Triples
Ruth: 69
Ohtani: 36

Home runs
Ruth: 215
Ohtani: 228

RBIs
Ruth: 678
Ohtani: 570

Walks
Ruth: 659
Ohtani: 439

Strikeouts
Ruth: 477
Ohtani: 923

Stolen bases
Ruth: 53
Ohtani: 147

Ohtani is behind in most categories but is ahead in home runs.

Now let’s look at pitching through 86 games, which is how many Ohtani has pitched:

Win-loss
Ruth: 49-21
Ohtani: 38-19

ERA
Ruth: 2.13
Othani: 3.01

IP
Ruth: 617-1/3
Ohtani: 481-2/3

H/9IP
Ruth: 6.65
Ohtani: 6.50

BB/9IP
Ruth: 3.32
Ohtani: 3.23

SO/9IP
Ruth: 4.43
Ohtani: 11.36

Complete games
Ruth: 46
Ohtani: 1

All in all, a remarkable start to a career.

Speaking of Ohtani

Remember last season when a certain newsletter writer criticized the Dodgers for giving away items to only the first 40,000 fans to attend a game? You’d have fans lining up hours before a game on bobblehead nights to make sure they got one.

Wednesday was the first Ohtani bobblehead night of the season. And fans were in line 12 hours ahead of time. The line stretched for about a mile well before the gates even opened. And then, a couple of hours before game time, the Dodgers announced they would be giving an Ohtani bobblehead to everyone in attendance. That didn’t make the people in line all day too happy, but it’s about darn time they did this. Hopefully this is the policy going forward.

Freeman out

Freddie Freeman slipped in the shower earlier this week and aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle, the one he injured near the end of last season. He was put on the 10-day IL and will be eligible to come off it next weekend. No corresponding call up from the minors had been announced at the time this newsletter was being written, but you can expect one before Friday’s game.

If you’ve ever had a sprained ankle, you know they can remain painful for weeks, and most of us did not injure it nearly as severely as Freeman did, nor are we trying to play in the majors. Better to be cautious now and put him on the IL.

Trade news

The Dodgers acquired outfielder Esteury Ruiz from the A’s for minor league pitcher Carlos Duran. The A’s had designated Ruiz for assignment. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he led the AL with 67 stolen bases in 2023. Unfortunately, speed is all he has really brought to the majors so far, as he has hit only .243/.297/.343 in 598 plate appearances with three teams. Fielding wise, he has been average at best. The Dodgers have worked some magic with players that were basically cast off from other teams in the past, so we’ll see if they can do it again. He was sent to triple-A Oklahoma City.

Duran returned from Tommy John surgery last season, and finished with a 3.71 ERA in 53.1 innings spread across three minor leage levels.

Best starts

The best starts to begin a season:

13-0
2023 Tampa Bay Rays, final record: 99-63 (lost in wild-card round)
1987 Milwaukee Brewers, 91-71 (finished third, did not make postseason)
1982 Atlanta Braves, 89-73 (lost in NLCS)

11-0
1981 Oakland Athletics, 64-45* (lost in ALCS)

10-0
1966 Cleveland Indians, 81-81 (finished fifth, did not make postseason)
1962 Pittsburgh Pirates, 93-68 (finished fourth, did not make postseason)
1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, 98-55 (won World Series)

9-0
2003 Kansas City Royals, 83-79 (finished third, did not make postseason)
1990 Cincinnati Reds, 91-71 (won World Series)
1984 Detroit Tigers, 104-58 (won World Series)
1944 St. Louis Browns, 89-65 (lost in World Series)
1940 Brooklyn Dodgers, 88-65 (finished second, did not make postseason)
1918 New York Giants, 71-53 (finished second, did not make postseason)

8-0
2025 Dodgers, ?, ?
1982 Chicago White Sox, 87-75 (finished third, did not make postseason)
1980 Cincinnati Reds, 89-73 (finished third, did not make postseason)
1915 Philadelphia Phillies, 90-62 (lost in World Series)

*-strike-shortened season

How crazy

The Dodgers are off to one of the best starts in history, but they could be in second place by the end of Friday because the Padres are 7-0. That’s baseball for you.

That’s it!

A brief newsletter this time (stop cheering) as most people are on spring break. Next time we’ll talk about Max Muncy and those torpedo bats. Unless something bigger happens.

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-0, 2.70 ERA) at Philadelphia (*-Jesus Luzardo, 1-0, 3.60 ERA), 3:45 p.m. PT, Apple TV+, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 0-0, 5.79 ERA) at Philadelphia (Aaron Nola, 0-1, 8.44 ERA), 1:05 p.m. PT, Sportsnet LA, FS1, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) at Philadelphia (*-Cristopher Sánchez, 0-0, 1.69 ERA), 10:35 a.m. PT, Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Shohei Ohtani hits walk-off homer on his bobblehead night to keep Dodgers undefeated

Dodgers don’t boast MLB’s highest payroll. They can thank deferred contracts to Ohtani, Betts

The Dodgers didn’t just help Tyler Glasnow get healthy, they helped him get better

Shower ‘mishap’ sidelines Freddie Freeman; Dodgers ‘interested’ in torpedo bats

Shohei Ohtani 50-50 card sells for $1.07 million. It includes piece of pants Dodger wore reaching milestone

‘You want your chance to win one.’ New Dodgers feel World Series hunger during celebrations

And finally

Shohei Ohtani hits a walk-off homer on his bobblehead night. Watch and listen here. Manny Ramirez hits a pinch-hit grand slam on his bobblehead night. Watch and listen here.