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The legend of Shohei Ohtani began long before he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers last offseason. It had been many decades since we saw any player both pitch and hit, let alone be as dominant as Ohtani has been thus far in his career. His popularity has transcended the sport of baseball, and Ohtani is now among the most popular figures in sports, period.
On Monday, the Dodgers visited the White House as the defending World Series champions. President Trump asked manager Dave Roberts light-heartedly if he (Ohtani) was good. True to form, Roberts had the perfect response.
President Trump on Shohei Ohtani: "Is he good?"@Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts: "Only getting better."
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 7, 2025
Trump: "That's scary for a lot of people." pic.twitter.com/FjGxx7p1hj
When asked if Shohei Ohtani was good at the White House, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had the perfect response
As a three-time MVP already, it is pretty wild to think that Ohtani could actually get better. He was the first player in baseball history to post a 50/50 season in 2024 and it hard to imagine that he could top that effort because, well, we never saw anyone do that before him.
However, it is easy to forget that Ohtani is just 30 years old and we haven't even see him pitch since 2023. A certain amount of skepticism is warranted, as he is recovering from a second surgery on his throwing arm, but he has the talent to be a guy that wins MVP and a Cy Young in the same season. From that perspective, we may not have seen Ohtani at his best yet, and that is pretty wild.
Will Ohtani best his 2024 numbers this year? Probably not, as that is an incredibly lofty mark to even approach. Ohtani is going to be every opponents' No. 1 guy to figure out how to beat and, at some point, he is just going to get the Barry Bonds treatment and not get pitched to. How Ohtani adjusts to opponents' game plans will determine just how his numbers look at the end of the season.
Now, if he continues to beat teams singlehandedly even with all the added attention and he is still a frontline pitcher once he takes the mound again, we may still end up with an even better version of Ohtani, and that is indeed scary.