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Is this year's Shohei Ohtani better than last year's Shohei Ohtani?

When Shohei Ohtani first arrived in the major leagues after signing with the Angels, he did so with quite an advanced billing, extreme even for Los Angeles: The Japanese Babe Ruth.

It was a snappy and evocative moniker, effective in what it was meant to convey. Ohtani didn't just pitch and hit -- he did both at elite levels. At the same time. We hadn't seen anything like it since Ruth, so the hype went.

The thing is, it has not turned out to be merely hype. Ohtani has not only lived up to the billing, he has left it behind -- like an old movie poster someone forgot to take down.