He leads the league in home runs, and there's more All the amazing things he's done it's only half of the deal Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound for the first time in 663 days And there is a palpable buzz in this ballpark Park open half an hour earlier than usual folks rolled in here Everybody's standing getting footage of this historic moment You're at a roar from the crowd when he just left the dugout to go warm up at 630 And while this may only be an inning or two probably is only going to be a short outing as David Vassey told us It's still an amazing reminder Of the one-of-a-kind talent this is the spectacular Unmatched talent that this is so we get an opportunity to see him night in and night out at the plate and we marvel at That and sometimes you forget that there is a whole nother arena that he is about to re-enter Tonight and that's on the mound Begins his fifth season as a two-way player, and he's been called the second coming of Babe Ruth Well Babe Ruth only had two years where he was a two-way guy Babe broke in as a pitcher and then didn't play the field until he was in his fourth year and only did two years of Doing both 34 starts of doing both Otani's fifth year as a full two-way guy and the last stint where he was a full-time two-way player He was the second best hitter in baseball only Aaron judge had a higher OPS He was the third best starting pitcher in baseball with a 284 ERA Yeah, the expectations that he is set for us as fans Really are unprecedented and every time we think that oh, there's no way that he can do this or no.

It's like soccer—football—where you don't need fancy cleats or a brand-new ball to play the field.