I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve my dream of fall baseball at the Los Angeles Angels. Shohei Ohtani (29), who is spending the last year of a six-year contract with the Angels, was once again overcome with frustration.
Ohtani started as the designated hitter twice in the 2023 major league home game against the Seattle Mariners, which took place on the 7th (hereinafter Korean time) at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, USA, and scored 1 hit and 1 run in 4 at-bats, but could not prevent the team from losing.
The Angels lost 2-3 after a close 10th overtime game and gave up all 4 home games against Seattle. Recently, as he fell into a swamp of 6 consecutive losses, the season record was 56-57, and the 50% win rate was broken. The gap with the Toronto Blue Jays (63-50), which ranked 7th in the American League (AL) wild card, widened to 7 games.
It is realistically difficult to overturn 7 games in the remaining 49 games. Ahead of the trade deadline, they recruited a large number of players who were immediately capable of pitching, such as starter Lucas Giolito, bullpen Reynaldo Lopez, infielder CJ Kron, and outfielder Randall Grichick, to win the game for fall baseball, but rather backtracked.
Ohtani’s despair also builds. He hit his 40th home run of the season against Seattle on the 4th, but when the team lost 3-5 with 4 runs in the 9th inning, Ohtani was caught on the broadcast screen in tears and swallowing saliva in the dugout. His resentment was shown on his face. However, the Angels continued to lose in the next three games as well.
Ohtani, who becomes a free agent after the season, is less likely to remain with the Angels. Even his closest teammates can’t bear to ask him to stay with the Angels. According to Japanese media ‘Chunichi Sports’ on the 6th, outfielder Miki Moniak said, “It’s hard to tell Ohtani to stay here. He’s his life, and I can’t say anything about free agency.” 스포츠토토
Afterwards, Moniak said, “If Ohtani decides to leave the team, he is still a teammate. He values the time I have with him and only aims to win together.” It seemed that he had an intuition that this was his last season with Ohtani.
According to ‘MLB.com’, Angels manager Phil Nevin said, “I know everyone now thinks we’re out of postseason contention. But it’s okay. We still have 26 players and staff on our team.”
“Being swept is never fun,” Moniak said. It’s been a really tough series, and it’s a tough situation for everyone. But that’s baseball, and you have to prepare to wake up again tomorrow.”
