September 8, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) is greeted within the dugout after hitting a house run within the fifth inning towards the Cleveland Guard at Dodger Stadium. Necessary Credit score: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Photos The Chicago Cubs would be the subsequent group to get a better have a look at Shohei Ohtani after they open a three-game street sequence towards the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
Ohtani hit his forty sixth dwelling run of the season towards the Cleveland Guard on Sunday. He additionally stole 46 bases and, with 19 common season video games remaining, is on tempo for the primary 50-50 season in MLB historical past.
Ohtani tied Alfonso Soriano (2006) for essentially the most dwelling runs in a 40-40 season.
“Man, you do not see guys hitting the ball as far and as onerous as he does,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “He simply locked up the 50-50 recreation and the chase was occurring and I actually Hopefully he can do this at dwelling.”
Because the historic milestone approaches, Ohtani continues to say it is all concerning the group, although a 50-50 end might earn him his third MVP award and the primary for a participant who’s primarily a delegated hitter.
“It is one thing I will look again on on the finish of the season,” Ohtani mentioned by way of a translator. “It is extra vital to win the sport and the sequence, and fortuitously we have been in a position to do each (Sunday).”
The Dodgers received for the eighth time of their final 11 video games and have both received or tied their final 9 video games. The Dodgers (86-57) are six video games forward of the second-place San Diego Padres within the Nationwide League West.
Los Angeles will put right-hander Walker Buehler (1-4, 5.67 ERA) on the mound on Monday. Buehler, who has returned from a two-year absence following his second Tommy John surgical procedure, has began 12 video games and allowed simply two factors in every of his previous two video games.
In six profession video games (5 begins) towards the Cubs, Buehler is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA.
The Cubs (73-70) will go up towards right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-11, 6.60), who hasn’t pitched at Dodger Stadium since 2019.
Hendricks had a robust begin towards the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, permitting two runs in 5 innings in a loss.
Hendricks made seven profession begins towards the Dodgers and was 3-3 with a 5.68 ERA and 9 dwelling runs in 38 innings. In three begins in Los Angeles, he went 1-2 with a 7.71 ERA and allowed 4 dwelling runs in 14 innings.
The Cubs completed August with an 8-1 report and boosted their playoff hopes, however have misplaced 4 of their previous six video games. Whereas they scored two runs in the whole sequence, they misplaced two of three video games at dwelling towards the New York Yankees.
The Cubs start a six-game street journey on Monday, leaving simply 9 street video games remaining within the season. The Cubs allowed a median of 4.0 runs in 71 dwelling video games and 5.0 runs in 72 street video games.
“A few of that could be randomness, and a few of it could be simply the wind blowing virtually daily (at dwelling) this 12 months,” Chicago president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer mentioned. “…I feel earlier than the season is over, You may’t actually take into consideration all these items and we will actually make these (roster) changes.”
–Scene-level media
