Game Day: The Ohtani-Trout show must go on

Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday, March 22, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Good morning. Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout combined to produce a great baseball moment last night. Let’s hope it’s not the only time they do that.

In other news:

• Paul George went down with a knee injury as the Clippers dropped a one-point game to the Oklahoma City Thunder; word of a diagnosis is expected today.

• All eyes were on injured Adem Bona (shoulder) and David Singleton (ankle) as the UCLA men’s basketball team headed to Las Vegas for Thursday’s Sweet 16 game against Gonzaga.

• Austin Ekeler said he wouldn’t mind staying with the Chargers, but he clearly wants his pay (14th among NFL running backs) to match his production (sixth at the position last season).

• Tearing an ACL at the NFL scouting combine didn’t stop USC offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees from stoking draft interest with his bench-press performance.

• The Dodgers can’t announce it yet, but Julio Urias is lined up to make his first opening-day start on March 30 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with Clayton Kershaw starting the season’s second game.

• The rain prompted Santa Anita to cancel Friday’s card and shift the track’s three-day racing week to Saturday through Monday.

• And here is how the Los Angeles Unified School District workers’ strike is affecting prep sports.

The World Baseball Classic final ended with Ohtani on the mound in relief and Trout at the plate, the Angels teammates facing each other for the first time in competition as Team Japan tried to protect a one-run lead over Team USA with the bases empty and two outs in the top of the ninth inning in Miami.

Since Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock wasn’t in effect, the tension was allowed to build. Twenty-five seconds elapsed, 10 more than will be allowed during the season, between when Ohtani got the ball back after a 102 mph fastball missed to make the count 3-and-2 and when Ohtani delivered the decisive pitch. Ohtani adjusted his cap and blew on his right hand. Trout exhaled through his lips as he got set. Nobody watching in the ballpark or on TV shouted, “Hurry up! I’ve got better things to do!”

When Trout swung and missed at a pitch that swept away from him, Ohtani turned toward onrushing teammates in a triumphant pose and Japan began an emotional celebration of a 3-2 victory and the country’s third championship in five editions of the WBC.

And Angels fans felt emotions of their own, decidedly bittersweet.

It was fun to see the two great Angels play starring roles, even for opposing teams, in a contest with World in the title. It was frustrating to realize the chances of them doing so, both wearing an Anaheim uniform, in a World Series seem as remote as ever.

Not only Angels fans, but anyone who likes to see the best players on the biggest stages hates the fact that while Trout and Ohtani have each won American League MVP awards during the five seasons they’ve been on the same team, they’ve never had a roster around them capable of making the AL playoffs or even cracking .500.

“Seeing Trout and Ohtani lead their teams onto the fields carrying flags makes me so, so frustrated about the Angels of the last half decade,” Washington Post baseball writer Chelsea Janes wrote on Twitter as last night began.

Even after some helpful offseason moves, the Angels are rated by betting markets as third in the AL West, eighth in the AL and smack in the middle of the 30-team MLB with 40-1 odds against winning the 2023 World Series.

The odds of Ohtani remaining an Angel for more than the one season remaining on his contract might be better than that, but they aren’t short.

Team owner Arte Moreno, speaking with Angels beat writers for the first time in more than three years last week, said that he’s prepared to pay the Major League Baseball luxury tax in order to sign Ohtani long-term but that contract talks haven’t begun.

Ohtani’s agent said last month that there’s no deadline for talks to begin, but hinted they’re more likely to wait until after the season.

Baseball columnist J.P. Hoornstra wrote that enticing Ohtani to stay involves more than money. Hoornstra noted that Japanese fans at the WBC brought their country’s tradition of singing personal jingles for each player.

“My proposal to Angels fans is simple,” J.P. wrote. “Make a unique fight song for Ohtani, and sing/chant/hum it before each of his at-bats at Angel Stadium. He will be the only player in MLB afforded this tradition – a unicorn treatment for a baseball unicorn. More than that, it will honor Ohtani’s heritage in a way that makes him feel right at home. It might just become the most compelling non-monetary reason for Ohtani to re-sign in Anaheim if the Angels miss the playoffs again.”

Ohtani’s price tag certainly didn’t go down after the WBC, in which he hit .435 with a home run and four doubles at the plate and recorded a 1.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 9-2/3 innings on the mound.

But the performance compounds the imperative for the Angels to do everything they can to keep Ohtani. Ohtani and Trout aren’t just, at their best, the two most watchable players in baseball right now. They’re the three most watchable, counting Ohtani with the bat and the ball.

Their turn in the shared spotlight with a lot on the line last night lasted 2 minutes, 45 seconds and will be remembered around the globe as one of baseball’s finest moments.

As great as it was to see them compete against one another, it would be better yet for the Angels to keep them competing with each other, surround them with enough talent to play for pennants, and let that moment last for seasons to come.

TODAY

• The Lakers are one-half game out of 10th place and a play-in game as they host the Phoenix Suns (7 p.m., SPSN, ESPN). Lakers update.

• The Angels face the Rockies in Scottsdale, Ariz. (1:10 p.m., BSW). Yesterday’s game report.

• The Dodgers meet the Mariners in Peoria, Ariz. (6:40 p.m., SNLA). Yesterday’s game report.

BETWEEN THE LINES

The Lakers are 1½-point underdogs against the Suns tonight. Since LeBron James was sidelined in late February, the Lakers have a 5-2 record as underdogs, both straight up and against the point spread.

280 CHARACTERS

“Pretty crazy how MLB has run a 20-team tournament over two weeks on two sides of the globe and it comes down to the exact scenario everyone wanted before it started.” – Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) watching Shohei Ohtani pitch to Mike Trout with two out in the ninth inning of a one-run game.

1,000 WORDS

On top of the world: The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani (capless), former Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish (11) and Japan teammates celebrate defeating Team USA, 3-2, last night in Miami to win the World Baseball Classic. The photo is by Megan Briggs for Getty Images.

TALK BACK

Thanks for reading the newsletter. What changes would you like to see in its daily content? Send suggestions, comments and questions by email at kmodesti@scng.com and via Twitter @KevinModesti.

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