Wait for Raleigh, Judge goes away and Ohtani Home Run King Mode ON, ranking second alone with four home runs and a crazy pace in the last five games

Jun 28, 2025

'The real version of the main character of the baseball cartoon' Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) turned on 'Home Run King Mode' that had been on for a while. In addition, the MLB home run king race is heating up like the summer weather.

Ohtani started as the first designated hitter in an away game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Missouri on the 28th (Korea time) and played MVP-class with two hits (one home run), two RBIs, and two walks in three at-bats, including a home run and a triple. The two hits show a home run, a triple, and Ohtani's strength, respectively. Driven by Ohtani's slugging power, the Dodgers won 5-4, winning five consecutive games.

In particular, Ohtani has hit as many as four home runs in the last five games since the game against Washington on the 23rd, ranking second in the Major League home run category alone. No. 1 is Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, who have 32. The third place is New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (28), who ranked first overall in the first round of the Major League All-Star fan voting announced on the 27th.

Ohtani, who had been in third place as recently as last week, beat Judge with four home runs this week alone, narrowing the gap with Raleigh. Considering that the first half of the season is not over yet, the gap between Raleigh and Ohtani's home runs (three) is not that big. The same goes for Jersey, of course. These three big guns are likely to maintain a tight competitive structure until the end of the season.

Ohtani hit a leadoff home run in the top of the first inning against Kansas City. Against opposing starter Noah Cameron, he pulled a flat change-up (78.1 miles per hour, about 126km/h) on the fourth pitch in the ball count 1B2S and hit a solo home run over the left-center wall with a distance of 131m (429 feet).

It was the eighth leadoff home run in the first inning this year. Ohtani, who hit a total of six leadoff home runs as a batter last year, is hitting eight leadoff home runs this year even though he is returning to the pitcher. Arithmetically, it is calculated that 15.6 leadoff home runs will be hit this year at this pace. If so, there is a possibility that Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies) will break the record for the most leadoff home runs in 15 MLB seasons last year.

In addition, Ohtani still imprinted the image that he is the leading candidate for MLB home run.

In fact, Ohtani is even trying to return to the pitcher this year, unlike last year, when he only devoted himself to hitters. He has already taken the mound twice. He pitched one inning each, and the plan is to gradually increase the number of innings in the future to return as a perfect starter by the second half of the year.

As such, it is true that home run productivity has declined due to energy being devoted to returning to the pitcher. Ohtani, who led the home run race with 15 home runs in May, turned off the "home run king mode" for a while as he took the mound in earnest in June.

In the end, he did not hit a home run in 10 games from the New York Mets on June 4 to the San Francisco Giants on June 14. Ohtani then seemed to survive by hitting multiple home runs against San Francisco on the 15th, but he had no home runs for another seven games from the game against San Francisco on the 16th to the game against Washington on the 22nd. In the meantime, Rowley and Judge hit out, and Ohtani was completely pushed to third place.

However, Ohtani's monstrous power quickly revived. He hit four home runs in five games. At this time, Raleigh has no home runs in four consecutive games and no home runs in three consecutive games. If the category is increased to the last seven games, Ohtani has hit a total of four home runs, while Raleigh has three and Judge has two. While Ohtani and Raleigh were almost at the same level, Judge was pushed back.

Of course, it is too early to talk about the home run king at a time when the All-Star break did not start. What is clear, however, is that Ohtani is still showing considerable competitiveness in the home run king fight despite the handicap of 'pitcher dualism'. Attention is focusing on whether Ohtani will perform the two roles of starter and home run hitter well.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.