Baseball fans got plenty of Shohei Ohtani home runs in the Derby, but unfortunately he only lasted one round due to the heroics of Washington Nationals star Juan Soto.
Ohtani hit six (6!) 500-foot home runs in his lone round at Coors Field, but unfortunately for him that wasn’t enough to move on. His opponent, Nationals star Juan Soto, managed to defeat him in a swing-off to advance.
It’s nothing against either player, as both Ohtani and Soto are among the faces of baseball’s next generation. If anything, the disappointment expressed by both myself and others speaks to a flawed Home Run Derby format, where the players are forced to face off in a bracket to benefit…absolutely no one.
Ohtani’s Derby pitcher received plenty of heat after he was eliminated in the first round.
Home Run Derby: Shohei Ohtani’s pitcher catching flack
Ohtani’s Derby performance was solid — 28 home runs in total — but it wasn’t enough to get him to the next round. As always, someone had to be the fall guy.
Leave it to Skip to make a terrible take with just a hint of truth sprinkled in.
There were many, many more.
While hitting as many home runs as possible in a short timespan is tough, so is throwing consistent batting practice for that many minutes. On the biggest stage, there were bound to be a few pitches out of the zone.