Shohei Ohtani says second half of 2021 season ‘tense’ as Angels’ losses pile up

At the end of the season, Angel Super star Shohei Ohtani’s Emotions when playing for a non-competitor begin to appear the rounds. That means he’s starting to express his disappointment mildly when his team hasn’t won more games. Despite Ohtani hitting, pitching and running the bases like an MVP (an award he will probably win this weekend), the Angels finished 77-85, good for fourth in the AL West.

Now, show that the copper stars Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon was hurt for almost the whole season. Of course, the Angels are 26-34 in 2020, 72-90 in 2019 and haven’t had a winning record since 2015, so not the losing season is a blip on the radar but just maybe blame those two. hurt.

Obviously thoughts and feelings have not escaped Ohtani since the end of the season.

Second, Ohtani did a one-hour Q&A at the Japan Press Club. Among his responses, via Associated Press, is this about him not exactly enjoying all that loss:

“Of course I feel down,” he said, expressing his feelings at the end of the season that had just ended.

“Ever since I’ve been in the big leagues, the team hasn’t won and we don’t have much prospect of going beyond the regular season. So in the second half of the season, the mentality is even more tense. And of course I get depressed sometimes when I can’t hit – or when my pitch gets hit.”

Hey, hard to blame him. No real opponent likes to play season by season without contention. It’s also notable for its completely free agency not far from Ohtani.

First, after a season where he’s going to win MVP, he’s completely underpaid. He made $3 million last season (Fangraphs estimate his game was worth $41 million) and is set to make $5.5 million in 2022 before the final season. of the referee in 2023. The optimal time for the Angels to renew him will likely be this season when they can buy back his last two years in arbitration and several years of free agent for a fee. generous salary increase.

However, if Ohtani is worried about continuing to play for someone who is not an opponent, are there offers to expand entertainment as well?

That’s why his rather vanilla comments are worth watching. At least he didn’t say anything offensive or controversial, but it was something worth noting on his mind.

Ohtani, 27, hit .257 / .372 / .592 (158 OPS+) with 26 doubles, 8 triples, 46 masters, 100 RBIs, 103 runs, 26 steals and leads start the tournament with 20 purposeful walks. On the mound, he led 9-2 with 3.18 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 156 strikes in 130 1/3 rounds. His 9.1 WAR (Baseball Reference Version) led the pros in a loss.