Shohei Ohtani is awesome and MLB is extremely lucky to have him

Shohei Ohtani is exactly what baseball needs.

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Major League Baseball held its annual Home Run Derby last night in Denver and while Pete Alonso took home the trophy, the real winner of the event was Angels star Shohei Ohtani, who didn’t even make it out of the first round but was the main reason why so many people tuned in.

Ohtani is in the middle of a season that will go down in the history books and never be forgotten. It’s ridiculous what he’s doing on the field and the huge impact he’s having with fans all over the world. The dude is a megastar and MLB is very, very lucky to have him.

Ohtani leads all of baseball with 33 home runs (five better than anyone else) and tonight he will be the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game.

Just think about that for a second!

Did you ever think we would see something like that in modern baseball? No, of course not. Nobody would have been able to predict something like that happening but here we are and it’s so darn cool.

Yesterday ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said some really dumb and offensive things about Ohtani that he later tried to walk back in a couple of different apologies that weren’t all that great, either. He criticized Ohtani for needing an interpreter and that his inability to speak English hurts his popularity with fans.

For real, Stephen A. Smith said that on TV.

I don’t know how somebody sees what Ohtani has been doing and finds anything to rip him for but then again those dumb morning sports shows make their money by yelling fake arguments at each other. It’s pitiful TV and I don’t know how anyone watches that desperate garbage.

Let’s live in reality here – Ohtani has become the face of baseball over the past few months and should continue to be just that the rest of the season. Every bomb he hits quickly goes viral on social media with fans reacting in real time about how in awe they are of this man who can crush home runs and also be a star pitcher. It’s all just so cool and fun, which are two things baseball isn’t often described as.

Too often baseball goes viral for the wrong reasons – like bad umpires making bad calls and Rob Manfred doing dumb things.

Now baseball has been given a gift, one the sport desperately needs and is very fortunate to have.

So many casual fans tuned into the Home Run Derby last night to see what Ohtani could do. He didn’t make it out of the first round but he rallied late in his appearance and forced two playoff-type rounds with Juan Soto that had fans buzzing. And it looked like he had a lot of fun doing it.

Baseball has a bunch of young stars doing a lot of great things and Ohtani has jumped to the top of the list with the magical season he’s having.

And we’re all lucky to be able to be along for the ride.

Quick hits: Photos from the Lightning’s boat parade… 17 questions with the head writer of ‘Loki’… Pro golfer wins 204 bottles of whiskey… And more. 

(Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

– The Tampa Bay Lightning had their Stanley Cup parade on Monday and things got loose on the water. Oh, and they also dented the Cup.

– My pal Henry McKenna spoke with Michael Waldron, the head writer of Loki, before tomorrow’s finale and if you’re a fan of the show you’re going to want to read this.

– A European Tour player won a ridiculous amount of whiskey for his hole-in-one at the Scottish Open.

– Patrick Mahomes poked fun at Chargers QB Justin Herbert after getting heckled at a golf tournament.