LOS ANGELES – The baseball gods placed on a present within the Yankees’ 8-5 loss to the Dodgers on Friday, as Aaron Decide and Shohei Ohtani every homered within the first inning of the series-opening, Fall Basic rematch.
Whereas neither rose to the event throughout Los Angeles’ World Sequence victory final October, their homers delivered the primary occasion in MLB historical past by which each reigning MVPs went deep within the first inning of the identical sport, per OptaSTATS. Decide received the award for the second time final season, whereas Ohtani received his third MVP.
Each have been unanimous.
“I feel like he was copying me,” Decide mentioned jokingly, as he homered first. “He’s impressive. He’s one of the best players in the game for a reason. What he can do in the box, on the base paths, once he gets back on the mound, it’s special.”
WELCOME TO YANKEES VS. DODGERS 2025 #FridayNightBaseball pic.twitter.com/L4QKlwL0AI
Dodgers followers greeted Decide with loud boos as he stepped up for his first at-bat. The Yankees’ captain responded with a solo shot to Dodger Stadium’s batter’s eye. The 113-mph, 446-foot bomb off Tony Gonsolin gave Decide 19 dwelling runs on the season, tied for third in baseball.
Ohtani, MLB’s dwelling run chief, clapped again, although, crushing Max Fried’s first pitch of the sport over the wall in middle. The sport-tying longball was Ohtani’s twenty first of the season.
He then hit his twenty second, one other solo shot off Fried, within the sixth inning. Each homers got here on poorly positioned pitches excessive within the zone.
“I wasn’t trying to go up,” Fried mentioned. “He’s a good hitter. I made two mistakes in the same spot and he hit them out.”
Added Aaron Boone: “He’s just massive power, controls the strike zone. He’s probably about as dangerous as anyone.”
Aaron Decide hit a house run within the high of the primary inning for the Yankees.
Shohei Ohtani responded with a house run within the backside of the primary inning for the Dodgers.
The 2 MVP favorites and residential run leaders are placing on a present.pic.twitter.com/psP2dmzOB3
Ohtani completed the sport 2-for-5 with a strikeout. Decide did the identical, including a double.
Decide additionally made a diving catch in proper within the third inning, robbing Teoscar Hernández of additional bases.
Whereas Decide had himself one other all-around sturdy efficiency, he spent a bit of his postgame scrum speaking about Ohtani as the 2 work on early bids for extra {hardware}. He repeatedly praised the Japanese celebrity and mentioned Ohtani’s consistency is what impresses him most.
Nevertheless, Decide additionally mentioned that he tries to keep away from the noise that has accompanied his matchups with Ohtani through the years.
“I try not to think about it,” Decide mentioned. “I got a job to do on the field. I gotta make plays, score some runs for the team. You try not to get too hyped into that. That’s for [the media] to do.”
Others, nevertheless, took a minute to understand not solely Ohtani and Decide, however a sport and two groups that had various MVPs and Cy Youngs on every roster.
“You certainly marvel at some of the players on this field tonight,” Boone mentioned. “There’s a variety of MVPs and All-Stars and simply nice, nice gamers.
“Some of the stars really shone tonight.”
