By all measures, the 2023 baseball season will be remembered as the Year of Ohtani.
Even before the end of spring exhibition play, Shohei Ohtani was named Most Valuable Player of the World Baseball Classic after striking out Mike Trout for the final out.
Trout, then Ohtani’s teammate with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, had been the last hope of Team USA against Japan in the WBC.
But neither he nor Yankees star Aaron Judge, whose 62 home runs the preceding year were the most in American League history, could do anything to stop the Ohtani tsunami.
A left-handed pitcher but right-handed batter, Ohtani dominated baseball so convincingly that he became the first player ever named Most Valuable Player by unanimous vote twice.
But he wasn’t done: shortly after the end of the Baseball Winter Meetings in December, Ohtani ended his first foray into free agency by signing a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the biggest pact ever awarded to a player in professional sports.
Entering the 2023 campaign, Front Office Sports reported that the 30 major-league teams had guaranteed a combined $3.7 billion to veteran free agents, with the two New York teams leading the frenzy.
The Yankees spent $574,500,000 to sign five players, while the Mets inked nine for $423,166,666.
Mets pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer received matching contracts that paid $43.3 million each, a record annual average that boosted the 2023 Opening Day payroll of the New York Mets to a record $357,644,073, according to SpoTrac. But both left in mid-season trades to American League contenders after the Mets imploded in the National League East title chase.
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The 29-year-old Ohtani, the first major-leaguer since Babe Ruth to serve as both a hitter and a pitcher, earned $30 million in the last year of his contract with the Angels. But never reached post-season play, familiar territory for a Dodgers team that took 10 division titles in the last 11 seasons.
In 2003, all three teams that reached triple digits in wins during the regular season fell quickly in the playoffs. The Dodgers were swept by the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks in the Division Series, the Baltimore Orioles suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Texas Rangers, and the Atlanta Braves won only one of their best-of-five pairing with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Led by slugging shortstop Corey Seager, the Rangers rolled to victory in five games against Arizona in the third World Series that lacked a first-place team; both Texas and Arizona were wild-card winners.
The Braves had led both leagues with 104 victories, mainly behind a juggernaut of power-hitters that produced 307 home runs, tying the record of the 2019 Minnesota Twins. But their robust attack cooled quickly in the Division Series against Philadelphia pitching for the second straight year.
During the 162-game season, a record four Braves homered at least 35 times, with Matt Olson’s career-best 54 topping both leagues. His 137 runs batted in – another lifetime peak – also led the majors.
Like Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna, Jr. was a unanimous choice for 2023 Most Valuable Player in his … [+]
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Even with those numbers, however, Olson finished only fourth in the MVP voting, trailing Atlanta leadoff man Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Dodger teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Acuña, like Ohtani, was a unanimous selection, receiving all 30 votes after posting the first 40/70 season in baseball history.
The fifth major-leaguer to collect 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season, he also finished with a club-record 73 stolen bases and 41 home runs, tying his previous high. His .338 batting average, the best of his career, placed second to surprise NL batting champ Luis Arráez, who hit .354 in his first Miami campaign to win back-to-back hitting crowns in each league.
Acuña had the most hits (217), runs (149), and stolen bases (73) as well as the best on-base percentage (.417) in the game.
Acuña, Olson, and Marcell Ozuna gave the Braves a trio of 40-homer men, duplicating a feat first accomplished in 1973 by Hank Aaron, Davey Johnson, and Darrell Evans, also with Atlanta.
Ohtani’s 44 home runs led the American League, while Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz burst into prominence with a league-high .330 batting average.
With bases enlarged and pick-off throws restricted, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll became the first freshman with at least 50 stolen bases and 25 home runs. The fourth rookie with 40 steals and 20 homers, Carroll capped his campaign with the National League’s Rookie of the Year award.
Both he and AL rookie winner Gunnar Henderson of Baltimore were unanimous choices. The 2023 season marked the debut of the pitch clock, introduced to speed up pace of play, and infield shift restrictions that required managers to deploy their defenders on the dirt rather than the outfield grass.
The rule also stipulated that two players must be stationed on both sides of second base.
The new rules may have helped Atlanta’s Spencer Strider lead the majors with 20 wins in 25 decisions but his fastball may have helped more: he fanned 281 batters, leading both leagues, and became the first pitcher to strike out at least 350 batters in his first 40 career starts.
Southpaw Blake Snell won National League Cy Young Award honors, giving him one in each league. (AP … [+]
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San Diego southpaw Blake Snell, in the walk year of his contract, won National League Cy Young honors – giving him the annual pitching trophy in both leagues – while Gerrit Cole of the Yankees won his first, taking American League honors by unanimous vote.
Teammate Domingo German pitched a totally unexpected perfect game – the 24th in major-league history – on June 28 but later encountered personal problems that may have derailed his career, at least temporarily. Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias, once a 20-game winner, encountered similar issues late in the season.
No-hitters were pitched by Framber Valdez (Astros), Michael Lorenzen (Phillies), and a three-man tandem of Matt Manning, Jason Foley, and Alex Lange (Tigers).
Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase saved 44 games, leading both leagues, but the Guardians finished only third, 10 games under .500, and missed the expanded, 12-team playoffs.
Guardians manager Terry Francona retired, along with 74-year-old Dusty Baker of the Astros, making incoming Angels pilot Ron Washington, at 71, the oldest active manager.
Francona, Baker, and Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, who came out of retirement to win his fourth world championship, seem to be on the fast track to enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Long-time Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera retired after the 2023 season. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
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Former Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, another likely Hall of Famer, also retired after the season, along with Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz, Cole Hamels, Daniel Murphy, and Adam Wainwright.
Cooperstown’s Class of 2023 consisted of Fred McGriff and Scott Rolen, with former manager Jim Leyland the first selectee for next year. He was chosen by a special Eras Committee panel at the winter meetings.
For the first time, major-league schedules pitted each of the 30 teams against all opponents, with 46 inter-league games, 52 games against division rivals, and 64 contests against teams in the same league.
In addition, official games were played in Mexico, London, and Williamsport, PA, home of the Little League Classic. The Field of Dreams game was not held because of construction work at the site in Dyersville, Iowa.
The National League won the 93rd All-Star Game, played in Seattle July 11, by a 3-2 score on a rare home run by little-known Colorado catcher Elias Diaz. That ended a nine-game losing streak by the Senior Circuit, which had last won in 2012.
After the season, club owners approved the application of the Athletics to move from Oakland to Las Vegas even though the team’s new stadium won’t be ready before 2028 – making the A’s the biggest lame duck in baseball history.
The first franchise to have four different homes, the club began life in Philadelphia but also played in Kansas City before moving to Oakland in 1968.
