Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker had the chance to stave off Shohei Ohtani’s historic feat and make sure it happened at the hands of a different team. It’s quite clear, however, that he did not give that much thought.
Ohtani was sitting on 49 home runs when he stepped to the plate with runners at second and third in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With first base open, the Marlins could have easily walked Ohtani without any real consequence, though they were already trailing 11-3.
Television cameras caught Schumaker in the dugout as the decision was made to pitch to Ohtani. The Marlins manager could clearly be seen saying “f— that” at the prospect of putting Ohtani on.
Naturally, Ohtani homered to left, making him the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.
Credit to Schumaker for letting pitcher Mike Baumann go after Ohtani. The game was effectively over already, so the only real benefit to putting Ohtani on base at that point would have been to avoid giving up that home run.