Ohtani hit his hardest-hit homer ever<\/p>\n
Shohei Ohtani<\/a> hit the 100th homer of his Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 career on Tuesday \u2014 which is wild when you remember he hasn\u2019t finished his second season with the team yet \u2014 and he made it a special one. To mark the occasion, Ohtani hit the hardest home run he\u2019s ever hit, as measured by exit velocity. Since this is Ohtani we\u2019re talking about in the first place, that means this thing was\u00a0smoked.<\/p>\n Welcome to the big leagues, Bubba Chandler<\/a>. Make sure you watch that clip long enough to see the face he makes when he turns back to the camera \u2014 Chandler stared at that homer for about as long as Ohtani did, and then put on a face that said, pretty loudly, “well they don\u2019t have guys like that in the minors.” Don\u2019t worry, there aren\u2019t guys like that in the majors, either. Just the one.<\/p>\n The dinger \u2014 which had an exit velocity of 120 mph and certainly sounded like it \u2014 was also Ohtani\u2019s 46th of the season, putting him second in the National League behind Kyle Schwarber<\/a>, and third in the majors overall. He has just the 17 steals this year, so we\u2019re not about to see another 50\/50 campaign out of him, but don\u2019t fret: Ohtani didn\u2019t forget how to swipe a base, he\u2019s just pitching again. He\u2019s struck out 44 batters in 32.1 innings so far instead, which seems like an acceptable trade off as far as being in awe of his performance goes.<\/p>\n Despite Ohtani\u2019s blast, the Pirates<\/a> ended up winning 9-7 in the end, but the Dodgers got a bit of a reprieve there, as the Padres<\/a> also took an L on Tuesday. Los Angeles remains 2.5 up in the NL West over San Diego, with 24 games left on the schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n Benches clear in Colorado as Rockies lose No. 100<\/p>\n The Rockies<\/a> have lost 100 games, and are the first team in MLB to reach that mark in 2025. They are, of course, trying to avoid becoming one of\u00a0the five- or 10-worst teams<\/a> in modern MLB history \u2014 meaning, dating back to 1901 \u2014 by losses, winning percentage and run differential, so it\u2019s understandable that they might be a little frustrated when things don\u2019t go their way. As happened to starting pitcher Kyle Freeland<\/a> here, when Rafael Devers<\/a> admired a home run for just a little too long to the lefty\u2019s liking.<\/p>\n As you can see in this alternate angle, Freeland kept drifting toward first base and jawing at Devers \u2014 the initial clip makes it seem as if the Giants<\/a>\u2019 slugger had been talking trash the whole time, but he was responding.<\/p>\n Freeland started yelling at Devers, who did not appreciate being yelled at, and the benches cleared. Luckily, no one started throwing hands, with teammates mostly getting involved to make sure that no one started a fight with more than words, but again, it shouldn\u2019t be surprising that tension would eventually boil over for Colorado. They played their 139th game of the season on Tuesday night, and they have lost 100 of those. It\u2019s been a real long summer for the Rockies.<\/p>\n San Francisco, meanwhile, has won three in a row and are 9-1 in their last 10, putting them back over .500 and five games back of a wild card spot.<\/p>\n Grisham\u2019s grand slam(s)<\/p>\n Before Tuesday, Trent Grisham<\/a> had last hit a home run on Aug. 29, and it was a grand slam. The next long ball for the Yankees<\/a>\u2019 outfielder? Also a grand slam:<\/p>\n That was Grisham\u2019s third grand slam of the season, too, tying him with Eugenio Suarez<\/a>, Brandon Nimmo<\/a> and Cal Raleigh<\/a> for the most in MLB this year. He\u2019s now also tied for the fourth-most grand slams in a season in Yankees\u2019 history, per\u00a0YES<\/a>, behind Don Mattingly (6 in 1987) and the pair of Lou Gehrig and Tommy Henrich, who both had 4: Gehrig in 1934, Henrich in 1948. Grisham is in an 11-way tie for fourth place, so if he gets one more, that\u2019ll clog up second place a bit more, but put him in far more elite company than the already rare grouping he\u2019s in now.\u00a0<\/p>\n Grisham has had quite the season. Over a full year, he\u2019s never been as productive as in his 2025 \u2014 he actually came into the year on a run of three consecutive below-average offensive seasons. Grisham has hit .248\/.356\/.483 with 29 homers in 2025 however, blowing away his previous career-high of 17 bombs.<\/p>\n But wait, there\u2019s more<\/p>\n The Grisham Grand Slam story doesn\u2019t end there. You might have noticed in that clip that Astros<\/a>\u2019 catcher C\u00e9sar Salazar<\/a> motioned for Framber Valdez<\/a> to step off of the mound before the pitch, which Valdez did not do: he instead began his motion, threw a 96-mph meatball down the middle of the plate, and Grisham plated four runs to give the Yankees a 6-0 lead that would power their 7-1 victory.<\/p>\n It gets a little weirder, too: two pitches later, Salazar called for a pitch below the strike zone, as evidenced by his glove\u2019s placement, but Valdez instead fired a 93-mph fastball right at Salazar\u2019s chest, well above his glove.<\/p>\n Valdez said post-game that\u00a0this wasn\u2019t intentional<\/a>, as he just failed to locate the pitch he wanted to throw that Salazar knew was coming and already apologized to his catcher about it. Which is entirely plausible! Pitchers and catchers can get crossed up, and pitchers can certainly miss their spots \u2014 especially if they are currently, visibly frustrated about giving up a grand slam on a pitch they didn\u2019t even have to make. Just maybe cut it out with the death stare after the pitch next time, perhaps show a little more whoopsie about it so no one is wondering if you meant to peg your catcher in the chest with a fastball is all.<\/p>\n Raleigh goes yard again\u00a0<\/p>\n Cal Raleigh had not hit a homer since Aug. 25, so you knew he was due. MLB\u2019s home run leader was the first to 50, and now he\u2019s at 51 before anyone else reached him at the previous threshold.<\/p>\n Big Dumper tends to hit homers in little clusters, which always matters, but especially here since we have just a few weeks of season left. Raleigh\u2019s next home run will tie him for the second-most by a switch-hitter in MLB history, with Mickey Mantle\u2019s 1956, and put him just two behind tying Mantle for the all-time lead of 54, set in 1961.<\/p>\n Instincts!<\/p>\n Think fast, Clayton Kershaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hey, he did.<\/p>\n Caminero made homer history<\/p>\n Junior Caminero<\/a> hit his 40th home run of the season on Tuesday, and it was a notable one. At 22 years and 60 days, he\u2019s the fourth-youngest player to reach the 40-homer mark in MLB history.<\/p>\n Per\u00a0Sarah Langs<\/a>, only Mel Ott in 1929 (20 years, 218 days), Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/a> in 2019 (21, 285) and Eddie Matthews in 1953 (21, 349) were younger when they hit their 40th. Of note is that Caminero\u2019s hot pace in the second half of the season has his potential season-end homer total rising and rising: he began August with a 41-homer pace, and is now up to 47. If \u2014 and this is a significant if \u2014 Caminero somehow hits 50 by continuing his torrid pace, he\u2019ll be the youngest-ever to 50 dingers in a season: Prince Fielder was 23 when he achieved the feat in 2007. If he can\u2019t manage that, well, he can always shoot for second-youngest later on: Pete Alonso<\/a>, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ralph Kiner and Jimmie Foxx were all 24 when they pulled it off.<\/p>\n
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