FanPost

Ohtani is a critical component of Angels victories! No kidding!!!

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports


We all know this deep down. When Ohtani is in the game either as a Pitcher or a Designated Hitter, the Angels chances of winning the game seem so much better. Yesterday's game was just the most recent example of that as the Angels lost the game in extra innings after going 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

The Angels are just a whole different team with Ohtani in the game and years of watching baseball has made it intuitively obvious to all of us.

What I thought I would do is actually make a quick attempt to quantify it and make a simple post to show the numbers.

What I did was simply to take the Angels record and break it down by games when Ohtani pitches, games when he doesn't play, games in which he has only a marginal role with 1 or 2 plate appearances and games in which he is the DH with 3 or more plate appearances.

This is what I found.

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While this is clearly a simple analysis, just correlating Ohtani's types of appearances with the Angels Win/Loss record when we all know lots of other stuff happens on a baseball field, this is what it shows.

Ohtani is 4 and 1 when he is the starter pitcher. OK. We all knew that.

The Angels are only 6 - 8 when Ohtani does not play at all. They actually have a losing record without Ohtani! I'm not sure I knew that, but I'm hardly surprised by it.

Even more striking, they are 11 - 5 when Ohtani is a Designated Hitter! This sure feels true at the moment, doesn't it? That power offense just seems to click so much better when he's in it!

Overall, The Angels are 15 - 6 when Ohtani either pitches or is the DH with 3 or more plate appearances.

I'm not really surprised by these numbers. It sure feels like the Angels are a much better team when Ohtani plays and this shows it!

Obviously, on a team with Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons, two of the top ten WAR leaders at the moment, I wouldn't argue that Ohtani is the most important player on the team. However, his presence seems to provide the critical tipping point that brings the Angels to another level.

This FanPost is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.

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