Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series last Friday. He also pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking none and striking out 10.
Perhaps even more impressive, Ohtani’s night began when he struck out the side in the top of the first, then homered to lead off the bottom of the first.
It was amazing.
The reaction since has been predictable, with Ohtani’s performance being called one of the greatest things to happen in the history of humanity. Somewhere between the last three episodes of “Breaking Bad” and Jesus feeding the masses with the loaves and fishes.
It’s not.
It might be the greatest performance in baseball history.
But I’d go with Reggie Jackson’s three home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, which clinched that series for Jackson’s New York Yankees.
Or Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956.
Or Johnny Cueto dropping the ball in 2013.
But I can’t give Ohtani’s performance the nod over, say, Mario Lemieux scoring five goals, five ways on New Year’s Eve, 1988.
Because it’s only baseball.
Hand-eye coordination is certainly required. But not the same degree of athleticism that other sports demand.
Ohtani wasn’t on skates. Nobody was swinging lumber at him.
Sure, hitting a baseball thrown at a high speed is extremely hard. Some say it’s the toughest thing to do in sports.
But in the first “Karate Kid,” Daniel-san caught a fly with chopsticks.
That’s incredibly difficult.
It didn’t make him Michael Jordan.
I wonder if Ohtani bet on what he did. The odds would have been through the roof.