MVP
Shohei Ohtani's hitting zone has officially entered Jon Dowd territory
If you clicked on this headline, you more than likely logged hundreds of hours playing EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2005. If you clicked on this headline and didn't play MVP Baseball 2005, you're probably wondering who the hell Jon Dowd is.
Quick explainer: Jon Dowd was a stand-in for Barry Bonds in the MVP 2005 video game, because Bonds announced he was going to pursue licensing opportunities on his own, meaning the game couldn't use his likeness. So the EA Sports team created Jon Dowd, who, obviously, was the best player in the game, because it was actually Barry Bonds in disguise (MLB.com had the amazing full story in November).
Long story short, Dowd/Bonds had the largest "hitting zone" in the game. There was no weak or "cold" area. Shohei Ohtani has quickly become the real life version of Jon Dowd in 2021.
First, there was this homer from Friday night at Fenway, a literal flick over the Green effing Monster:
Legitimately not human. He one-upped it on Monday night, though, with his league-leading 13th homer, which was nearly at eye level:
Yeah, we're officially in Jon Dowd territory now, which is a fancy way of comparing him to Barry Bonds without actually comparing him to Barry Bonds and starting an internet war. That said, people are very much coming around on him being an all-time great, IF IF IF IF he stays healthy. It's a big if, but right now he is healthy and leading the MLB in homers and pitching to a 2.10 ERA. Babe Ruth is the better comparison, but once pitchers start refusing to even pitch to him the Bonds comparisons won't be all that crazy.