In 2021, Shohei Ohtani had what was arguably the best single season any player in history has ever had when, as a batter he hit 46 home runs, second in MLB in that category, with a batting average of .257 and 100 RBI’s, and, as a pitcher, finished with a 9-2 record, with an ERA of 3.18 in 130 innings with 156 strikeouts. He also had 25 stolen bases and led the American League in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) with 9.1.
When it was over, Ohtani won just about every award possible, including American League MVP (unanimously selected), AP Athlete of the Year, Baseball Digest Player of the Year, Baseball America Player of the Year and Sporting News Athlete of the Year, among others. It takes nearly a full page in Wikipedia to list all the honors he won.
On Dec. 22, 2021, The Sporting News published an article "The 50 greatest seasons in sports history, ranked. In it, Ohtani's 2021 season was ranked No.1, topping great seasons by athletes such Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan and Lionel Messi.
His performance inspired a book by Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher entitled “Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played.”
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