The Houston Astros are in the middle of a very strong season so far. A huge reason for their success is their two staff aces in Spencer Brown and Framber Valdez. Both will be tested when they face the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend.

During that weekend Dodgers series, the Astros will send Valdez out on the mound on Saturday, July 5th. On the mound for the Dodgers is officially going to be Shohei Ohtani, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

While Ohtani doesn’t go deep into games yet in his return from injury, the matchup against Valdez will be a very exciting one. Both, at their best, are among the best pitchers in the game.

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This season, Ohtani has pitched just four innings, but has a 2.25 ERA and three strikeouts. In comparison, Valdez has 109 innings pitched with 108 strikeouts and a 2.72 ERA.

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Houston is no stranger to facing Ohtani, as the former Los Angeles Angels superstar made 13 starts against the Astros. In those starts, Ohtani had a 4.01 ERA and a 3-6 record.

Across 67.1 innings pitched against the Astros, Ohtani struck out 88 batters and walked 25. He also isn’t at his best as a hitter, as he has a .238 batting average and 15 home runs through 83 games against the Astros as a batter.

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The Astros are set to face off against Ohtani for his fifth start since coming off Tommy John surgery. It’s the first time Ohtani will face the Astros as a member of the Dodgers, a team the Astros have a deep connection with after their World Series win in 2017.

While Ohtani likely won’t match Valdez’s innings pitched (barring a disaster), the matchup is one of the best in baseball over the weekend.

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