On Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani walked four batters, his most in a game since July 2023. He looked heroic on the mound, striking out seven and nearly throwing a no-hitter through six innings. He even hit a leadoff home run. Still, Ohtani was furious with his poor control. We could see the tension, as he even dropped an F-bomb on the mound after losing his command.

“I would rather take the days where I get hit a little bit but still be efficient,” MLB insider Jack Harris quoted Ohtani.

Ohtani started the game dominantly till the fourth, but the Dodger Stadium crowd heard his frustration in the second inning when his fastball walked the Colorado Rockies’ Ezequiel Tovar. The command issues returned in the fourth when Ohtani walked Hunter Goodman, which enabled the runner, TJ Rumfield, to cover the next. Two hits in the next two balls, and the Rockies scored their only run of the game.

Even though Ohtani had a heroic night overall, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-1 win, the four walks completely justified his anger.

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Those 4 walks are the highest for Shotime since July 2023, when he was with the Los Angeles Angels. But struggling with command isn’t totally new since his return from elbow surgery.

When he made his long-awaited pitching return in the 2025 playoffs, he battled rust and control issues, posting a 4.43 ERA over 20.1 innings.

“Command was off, and I just felt like I was battling the lack of it,” Ohtani noted. “Rather than walking and just not being able to pitch deeper into the game.”

Despite the walks, Ohtani didn’t give up any hard hits. He put together a quality start and improved his ERA to a crazy 0.82.

The Dodgers are atop the NL West. And Shohei Ohtani compensated for his 1 ER by hitting a leadoff homer.

Wednesday was never a dud game for Ohtani, but as they say, good is the best critic of the best.

“This guy is just a crazy good competitor,” manager Dave Roberts remarked. “The great ones, you look at six innings, no-hit ball [and think] that could’ve been seven or eight. That’s what makes guys like that special.”

Since joining the Dodgers, fans eagerly waited to see Shohei Ohtani back on the mound. He returned and gradually increased his workload. The current phase might be the best the Dodgers have had with him.

The homer on his pitching day on Wednesday makes it two games in a row. Ohtani’s last pitching was against the San Diego Padres, when he also recorded a leadoff homer.

He achieved the same feat in the 2025 NLCS Game 4, and now it is getting common in the regular season. And this makes him a likely frontrunner in the NL Cy Young award race.

Shohei Ohtani’s Cy Young race is getting real

Ohtani has already won all the possible accolades in MLB, as far as batting is concerned. Cy Young Award is the only one left in his cabinet, and 2026 could also add that.

“Lowest ERA in first 9 starts of season, since ER official (1913) excl openers: 2021 Jacob deGrom: 0.62 1966 Juan Marichal: 0.69 1914 Dutch Leonard: 0.76 2026 Shohei Ohtani: 0.82 2009 Zack Greinke: 0.82 1919 Eddie Cicotte: 0.82,” MLB insider Sarah Langs shared a historic context of Ohtani’s pitching greatness.

This sums up how unhittable Ohtani is this season.

Shotime is leveraging his four-seam fastballs most (44%). Those average around 97.9 mph, followed by splitter, curveball, and sinker against left-handed hitters. He currently leads the NL pitching stats in terms of ERA, but trails in terms of SOs and innings pitched.

Voters heavily penalize pitchers who walk a lot of batters because it hurts their WHIP. Ohtani has a great ERA, but his strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.7 K/BB) is not even in the top 25.

He trails far behind other top Cy Young contenders like Cristopher Sanchez (5.38 K/BB) and Jacob Misiorowski (5.26 K/BB), who rarely walk batters.

Still, with how Shohei Ohtani is putting up numbers on the mound besides being dominant at the plate, we would not be surprised if he stays in the race till the end. And if not CY Young, another NL MVP award would be there.