OHTANI’S KILLER TEAR IS A SHATTERING BLOW TO MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

He may have blown close to $150 million with an absurd start for a non-contending team, and Ohtani might lose what would have been an all-time number: the biggest contract in American sports history

     Unless his body parts are extraterrestrial bits, Shohei Ohtani has uncovered a human wasteland. He cannot continue as a slayer of all baseball perceptions. We were able to survey his prime for a stunning three seasons — numbers anywhere impossible to attain as a hitter and pitcher, in a 2021-to-2023 timeframe — and on his unnecessary excursion with an Anaheim mess once again out of postseason contention, he tried to pitch this week against Cincinnati.

     Like that, he lost $600 million and might take $450 million, now that he has torn his ulnar collateral ligament for a second time and likely won’t pitch until 2025.

     And like that, Ohtani did not understand what was ahead this wintertime in the major-league marketplace: the wildest free agency in professional sports history. By simply shutting down his right arm as September approaches and prepare for a batch of crazed dealings — the Dodgers up the road, the Mariners in Puget Sound, the Giants in the Bay Area, the much-needed Yankees and Mets in New York and the Red Sox in New England — the 29-year-old, double-edged performer didn’t understand that he turns 30 before the next All-Star Game. Should he have gone to the trainer and demanded a new test of his elbow, knowing his first reconstructive surgery came after his first Angels season in 2018? Was it time to check again five years later? To make sure the right elbow is fine?

     He didn’t. For Ohtani, the joy of the game is far more important than the greed that makes America thrive. He insisted on staying in Orange County at the trade deadline and begged for owner Arte Moreno to retain him, and when he did, the Angels have gone 5-16 and shrieked from the playoffs for the sixth straight time under Ohtani and 12th in 13 times under Mike Trout. There is no other way to put it: This is the most cursed franchise in sports. And until he leaves, he’ll never get out and put his supreme being in the postseason, as he did early last spring when he led Japan to the World Baseball Classic title.

     If this was his way of stating the sport is more important than him, we’ll never grasp him in our land. He just placed the simple art of an X-ray beyond a far more important task of making sure his body, two ways, is ready for free agency. By not doing so, he lost tons of money because he won’t retain his complete presence on the mound. Of the 148 players who have had UCL reconstruction more than once, writer Jon Roegele says only 87 have returned to play at any major-league level. Bet on Ohtani to return, but more likely as a closer, which means we’ve seen his best already. Did the Angels not suggest a test for him? Maybe they thought by ignoring it, they somehow might keep him for the long term. Yikes.

     “This is the first day we’ve heard about it. Obviously, disappointing news. I feel terrible for him,” said Perry Minasian, the team’s general manager. “As far as plans and details, I don’t have those yet.”

     Never? “He never complained about anything,” Minasian said. “He had cramps, he was dehydrated, but today is the day. He came out of the game and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got pain in the elbow area.’ It’s the first time we’ve heard of any type of pain.”

     We were errant to think Ohtani never had anything worse than a cracked nail and a blister on his right middle finger. By batting 1,590 times and pitching 428.1 innings since April 2021 — that’s not even 29 months, kids, without the Classic — of course, he was going to show wear and tear beyond the norm. Who can proclaim his all-time dominance over Babe Ruth, and all the rest, without acknowledging the insane digits he was posting?

     Now was it just a three-year deal?

     Apparently, Ohtani will continue to hit for at least a tad. The Angels are long out of the American League wild-card race, probably without Trout the rest of the way, yet he should be in the lineup the next six days against the Mets in New York and the Phillies in Philadelphia. This makes no sense, and at some point, he might realize he’s delaying availability as a hitter next Opening Day. Whoever wants him — let’s say, Dodgers on the front line — don’t want him further injuring his elbow in silly late games. They want him resting in southern California and not having some random chat with Mets owner Steve Cohen, who needs big help.

     At this point, Ohtani still has 34 games to hit 19 home runs and break Aaron Judge’s AL record of 62. Why try and force an uglier elbow injury?

     Which only would decrease his number to $400 million, or less?

     There will come a time when Ohtani realizes that, yes, shooting for the biggest number in sports matters: money. At some point, he may or may not get there. At least his rough day included a second game when Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz, after Ohtani ripped a double in the fifth inning, walked over to him and poked him in the left elbow. Was Ohtani real? He has been the best hitter in baseball, leading the majors in homers, triples and total bases. And he has held opposing hitters to a .184 batting average, lowest of all 146 pitchers who have thrown 70 innings.

    But earlier that afternoon, when he shouldn’t have pitched, Shohei Ohtani proved he was human after all. And now, for the rest of us to enjoy him as he approaches 30, he should start acting it.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.