The MLB offseason was a long time ago. You can tell from how we're no longer talking about the Los Angeles Dodgers having the best pitching staff ever, much less setting the all-time win record.

For Shohei Ohtani, they can result in home runs. The Japanese star became the third player in Dodgers history to reach 20 homers in the team’s first 55 games with a two-run towering drive during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar, a two-way player who pitches and bats as a designated hitter, has not thrown to batters off a mound in 641 days after elbow surgery in September 2023. But in a simulated game before the Dodgers’ matchup with the New York Mets at Citi Field on Sunday, Ohtani threw 22 pitches to five batters.