Talking about it丨Compared with the four major GOATs of American sports? Shohei Ohtani's resume has a big "hard flaw"

Written by丨A version

Editor丨Feng Xiao

Just a month ago, Shohei Ohtani was named the American League MVP for the second time in his career, which was the second time he was unanimously elected MVP after the 2021 season, and the first two-time unanimous MVP in major league history, so at that time, people regarded him as a benchmark and pacesetter in Asian history.

This week, Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 700 million in ten years, setting the first huge contract in the history of professional sports.

After the accolade, the famous magazine GQ said that Shohei Ohtani saved the game of baseball and made the sport fun again

This is an imaginative question, and the answer is naturally polarizing.

First of all, Shohei Ohtani is the second baseball player in MLB's 100-year history after Babe Ruth to truly achieve a "two-sword" style of play, which makes him an "epoch-making" player in the absolute sense, and no baseball player can contribute a huge game impact on both offensive and defensive ends like him. In addition, he won the American League MVP twice in three years and led the Japanese team to the World Baseball Classic championship for the first time in 14 years, which proves that Shohei Ohtani is already the greatest baseball player of our time.

However, when we talk about the GOAT in professional sports, we often have to compare personal accolades.

Gretzky, Brady, and Jordan (from left to right) are recognized as the gods of ice hockey, football, and basketball in the American sports world

NFL's GOAT Tom Brady, three-time career MVP, two-time Offensive Player of the Year, one-time comeback award, three-time first-team of the season, three-time second-team of the season, 15 selections to the Pro Bowl All-Star Game, five-time passing touchdown leader, and four-time passing yard leader.

Michael Jordan, the NBA's GOAT, is a five-time career MVP, 14-time All-Star Game selection, 10-time All-Star Team selection, 10-time All-Defensive Player selection, nine-time Defensive First-Team selection, and 10-time Season Scoring Champion.

Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's GOAT, is a career winner in nine Hart Cups, ten Rose Cups, five Lady Beef Cups, and 15 All-Star Game selections. In addition, the three key statistics of goals, assists, and points are all the first in history, and he is officially recognized as the greatest player in NHL history.

And Otani's pioneer, the all-time No. 1 second-in-class, MLB's GOAT Babe Ruth, is a two-time All-Star, a one-time MVP, a bat-out king, a 12-time home run king, a five-time point hitting king, and a defense rate king. Due to the imperfect award setting in the 10s and 30s of the last century, Ruth's personal accolades seem to be relatively thin, but his 182.6 victory contribution value is the highest among all players in MLB history, which is enough to show his greatness.

MLB's GOAT Babe Ruth

In contrast, Shohei Ohtani first conquered the Japanese professional baseball arena and only came to challenge the MLB after entering his prime. In six seasons, he won two MVPs, three All-Stars, two major league seasons, one Rookie of the Year, two silver baseball awards, one home run king, and one batting triple crown. For example, Ohtani has won two MVPs, which may seem great, but MLB has won at least two MVPs with 33 players, which is not unprecedented.

In addition to individual awards and achievements, outstanding performances in the playoffs and championship games are also key indicators of a player's greatness.

Brady has reached 10 Super Bowl finals, won seven championships, won five Super Bowl MVPs, and holds multiple playoff records. Michael Jordan is a six-time Finals champion, a six-time Finals MVP, and two Olympic gold medals. Gretzky has won the Stanley Cup four times, the Smythe Cup twice (Playoff Player of the Year), and 15 all-time playoff records. Babe Ruth, who is also in the MLB arena, also helped the Yankees win seven MLB World Series titles.

And Shohei Ohtani has only won one Japanese league championship and one World Baseball Classic championship so far, but he has won nothing in the MLB arena. And this may be the biggest "hard flaw" that hinders Shohei Ohtani from participating in the discussion of GOAT topics.

In 2018, when Ohtani decided to leave Japan and challenge the major leagues, 30 MLBs poured out to throw an olive branch to Ohtani, and in the end, Ohtani chose Angels not only because they promised to continue to let Ohtani achieve the two-knife style of "shooting and playing", and they could join forces with "America's Strongest" Mike Trout, but also made Ohtani full of confidence in the future to hit the MLB World Series championship. However, six years have passed, the Angels have lost more than they won every season, and even if the wild card spots have increased, they have never made the playoffs. This is perhaps the biggest constraint that will affect him to become a GOAT now, and even in the future.

However, this time Ohtani took off the red jersey of Los Angeles and changed into a blue shirt, and in the new season, he is no longer only Mike Trout, but has joined a strong line composed of Mukie Bates, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and others, and after joining the Dodgers, he has not held a press conference and actively recruited compatriot Yushin Yamamoto for the new club, in addition, the average salary of his new contract is as high as 70 million, but Ohtani chooses to only take 2 million salaries per year and "defer payment" of the remaining salary This has helped the Dodgers save salary space and continue to recruit stars to improve their capabilities. Above, you say that it is okay for Ohtani to huddle and admire strong teams, but everything Otani does seems to have only one purpose: I want to win, I want to win!

Ohtani is full of thorns on the road to the GOAT, as strong as the Dodgers have made the playoffs in the past 11 consecutive years, and has a roster of players who can win the championship every year, but only once in recent years, it is still unknown when Ohtani will win his first MLB championship. In addition, the two-knife style of play is extremely taxing on a player's body, and Ohtani missed a lot of games at the beginning of his career, and last season's elbow injury will make Ohtani "abandon the pitch and play" in the 2024 season, leaving only "one knife flow". With such an overloaded style of play, how long will Ohtani have left in the peak of his career?

Ten years from now, when Shohei Ohtani will be 39 years old, maybe he'll still be active in the ring, or maybe he'll be retired, and then we can make a fair judgment about his career and whether he has become the GOAT in professional sports history.