As a reminder, Ohtani hasn't pitched since Aug. 23, 2023. He underwent surgery on his pitching elbow less than a month later. At the time, his surgeon said it was to "repair the issue at hand and to reinforce the healthy ligament in place while adding viable tissue for the longevity of the elbow."

For the first six seasons of Shohei Ohtani’s major-league career, October was just about the only month we didn’t talk about him. Throughout the spring and summer, no matter where his team sat in the standings,

"Other than the obvious," Judge said with a smile. "I feel like everything's obvious. He hits for average, hits for power, the speed. Doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases ... It got talked about a lot but I don't think it got talked about enough."