We found the one person who wasn’t impressed by Shohei Ohtani slugging three home runs and striking out 10 batters to clinch a World Series berth – Rob Parker.
As everyone debates whether Ohtani’s Game 4 of the NLCS was the best single game performance in Major League Baseball history, the Fox Sports Radio host is attempting to act like it was pedestrian.
So pedestrian that even he could have done at least the pitching half of Ohtani’s seemingly historic effort.
🎙️@robparkerMLBbro on Shohei Ohtani: “People have hit 3 home runs in a game…What he did pitching-wise was not that impressive against THIS Milwaukee Brewers team.”
🎙️@Kdubblive: “You are in an insane asylum screaming in a room by yourself.” pic.twitter.com/WiuO2UfuTB
— FOX Sports Radio (@FoxSportsRadio) October 21, 2025
“This is why people get caught up on this whole idea of prisoner of the moment,” Parker told his Fox Sports Radio co-host Kelvin Washington. “Because the prisoner of the moment made it like Shohei had done something that nobody had ever done. And it’s not true. First of all, people have hit three home runs in a game. Reggie Jackson hit three home runs on three consecutive pitches, by three different pitchers in a World Series game.
“I get it, he’s a unicorn, they’re making it like nobody – well yeah, we know, because only him and Babe Ruth have been the only guys who pitched and hit home runs at this kind of clip. There’s only been two guys since the ‘20s. But people keep going, ‘He’s the first guy since…’ Of course he is! Because nobody else has ever done it.”
Strangely, Rob Parker thought this was an argument to defend his take that Ohtani’s performance wasn’t impressive, when all he did was prove why it was impressive.
“It wasn’t like he shut down the mighty Milwaukee Brewers,” Parker continued. “Here’s my issue. Blake Snell pitched eight innings of unbelievable ball against the Milwaukee Brewers. [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto pitched a complete game against the Milwaukee Brewers! They were dead on arrival! Shohei didn’t do anything special. Everybody and their uncle, I could have pitched four scoreless innings against that team! They couldn’t hit! They couldn’t score any runs! So, people are making it like he pitched a no-hitter and hit four home runs on every at bat. That’s not what happened!”
Parker is right, that’s not what happened. Shohei Ohtani only pitched six shutout innings, struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs. But it’s nice to know Parker might have been impressed if Ohtani pitched a no-hitter and slugged four homers, even against the lowly No. 1 seed Brewers.
The only person who has the right to try making this argument is Mike Francesa. He made the mistake of claiming the New York Yankees were “lucky” to lose out on getting Ohtani in 2018. And because that might be the worst opinion in the history of Major League Baseball, he’s earned the right to keep digging himself a deeper hole if he chooses. But Rob Parker can’t now just jump on the worst Ohtani take bandwagon years later without being exposed.
I can respect the craft of a hot take artist and the art of a specific take, but there has to be some level of creativity that goes into it. You can’t just be a contrarian on everything for the sake of being a contrarian without the risk of starting to sound foolish. And claiming Shohei Ohtani striking out 10 batters while hitting three homers in the clinching game of a championship series wasn’t impressive, just sounds foolish.
