When Shohei Ohtani struck out Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout to close out the World Baseball Classic, it was an iconic baseball moment, and a full manifestation of all of the intangibles Ohtani bears -- the self-assuredness, the desire to dominate the greatest players. He's a natural showman, his broad grin belying well-earned competitive confidence. And as manager Phil Nevin said in conversation earlier this year: "He wants to be better at everything than anybody."
Late Wednesday night, the Angels announced that Ohtani will not pitch for the rest of the season, after he suffered a UCL tear in his right elbow.