ANAHEIM, Calif.-- The baseball sailed deep into the night sky, and Shohei Ohtani's bat went right along with it -- the latter flipping five times before landing somewhere between the batter's box and the first-base dugout, the former traveling 403 feet to straightaway center field at Angel Stadium, another signature moment in another season full of them.
Ohtani's unprecedented pitching and hitting exploits over these last two and a half years have been well-documented and thoroughly celebrated. What still isn't fully grasped, perhaps, is how stridently he chases greatness and how determinedly he yearns to win.