Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday, June 21, 2023, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – or pay ‘em to join you. That seems to be a Dodgers principle. Maybe Shohei Ohtani can make it pay off for him.
In the sports news this morning: UCLA forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. is expected to be the only Pac-12 player taken in the first round of the NBA draft on Thursday — here’s why that’s significant. The Sparks fell to 0-3 on their five-game home stand with another loss to Minnesota. Angel City FC’s Alyssa Thompson is among the players named to the U.S. roster for the Women’s World Cup in July and August in Australia and New Zealand. And the Rams have reacquired Sony Michel, the running back who played a key role in their Super Bowl LVI championship.
Shohei Ohtani starts for the Angels against the Dodgers tonight in Anaheim, seeking a split of this two-game Freeway Series.
The Dodgers won last night as Clayton Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings to match Reid Detmers’ best start of 2023 and once again play savior to a rotation eager for the return of Julio Urias.
The Dodgers have contained Ohtani the hitter more effectively than most teams, but this will be the first time in his six major-league seasons that they face Ohtani the pitcher.
It happens as the Aug. 1 trade deadline draws nearer and speculation goes from hot to hotter about where baseball’s rarest talent(s) will end up as a free agent this winter.
Yesterday, Angels GM Perry Minasian again refused to feed the notion that he would trade Ohtani during the season when the team is in a playoff race, a notion that columnist Mirjam Swanson addressed with proper disdain last week.
“Just lose Ohtani in free agency for nothing? No, not for nothing. For now, this very season,” Swanson wrote. “Live for the moment a little.
“The Angels should hold onto him now so they can turn around their misfortunes, change the narrative after the past two seasons when, despite Ohtani’s greatness, they were out of contention at the All-Star break.
“So they can give themselves the best shot at their first postseason appearance since 2014.”
The pre-hot-stove-league speculation about Ohtani’s future includes the latest measure of conventional wisdom, which says his most likely destination is 25 miles up I-5 at Dodger Stadium.
The Athletic polled about 100 major-league players and reported that “57.2 percent said Ohtani will be playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024. This was distantly followed by his current team, the Angels, with 11.4 percent of votes, then the Padres and Mets (7.2 percent), and the Yankees (6.3 percent).”
The Dodgers generally can afford who they want, even Ohtani and his expected demand for a contract worth $500 million or more.
Coincidence or not, very often the players the Dodgers want are ones who’ve helped to beat them in important games and series.
Mookie Betts? Big home run for the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series. Same with J.D. Martinez. Freddie Freeman? Two home runs for the Braves in the 2021 National League Championship Series. Jason Heyward? A Cub in the 2016 NLCS. Trea Turner and Max Scherzer? Helped the Nationals beat the Dodgers in the 2018 playoffs. Craig Kimbrel? Pitched in three Red Sox wins in the 2018 Series (so the can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em plan doesn’t always work out).
Shohei Ohtani? The Dodgers are unlikely to face him in the postseason. In any case, they don’t need personal experience to know what he would bring to the club as a free agent.
But if Ohtani wants to stir the Dodgers’ imagination just a little more vigorously, it couldn’t hurt to flash a memorable performance tonight in a game the visitors would love to win to complete a series sweep and steady their season.
Bookmark Angels coverage here and Dodgers coverage here, and follow beat writers Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) and Bill Plunkett (@BillPlunkettOCR) on Twitter for news the rest of the season – and on into the winter.
TODAY
• Dodgers and Angels finish their two-game series at Anaheim (6:38 p.m., BSW, SNLA). Ohtani is 2-2 (and the Angels are 3-3) when he pitches against teams currently above .500, 4-0 (7-1) against the rest.
• LAFC gets goal-scoring leader Dénis Bouanga back from international duty to face Seattle (7:30 p.m., Apple+). LAFC update.
• Galaxy tries to build on its good draw at St. Louis as it welcomes Kansas City (7:30 p.m., Apple+). Galaxy update.
• Coachella Valley Firebirds host the Hershey Bears in Game 7 of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Final (7 p.m., NHL Network).
BETWEEN THE LINES
Jon Wilner, of the Bay Area News Group, analyzed Pac-12 football championship odds and identified the best and worst bets. Wilner counts USC (as the 2-1 favorite) and UCLA (18-1) among the worst. The column is available here to BANG subscribers.
280 CHARACTERS
“Shohei Ohtani has hit two fly balls to LF that left his bat at 102.6 and 102.1 mph tonight. But he is now 0 for 11 in his career v Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw.” — Bill Plunkett tweeting about hard outs by the Angels’ star.
1,000 WORDS
Duel over: The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani swings and misses at a 2-2 slider from the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and strikes out leading off the bottom of the fourth inning in the Dodgers’ 2-0 win last night at Angel Stadium. Photo is by Keith Birmingham of the Pasadena Star-News and SCNG.
YOUR TURN
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