Shohei Ohtani owns the Colorado Rockies.
The Dodgers superstar put on another show-stopping performance against Colorado in Monday’s series opener at Coors Field, going 4-for-5 with two homers in Los Angeles’ 11-5 blowout win. It was the latest evidence that the Japanese sensation has been a Rockies killer throughout his nine-year big-league career, and especially in LoDo since he joined the Dodgers in 2024.
Amid Colorado’s freefall to becoming baseball’s worst team over the past four seasons, the Dodgers have gone scorched earth on the Rockies. In the 50 games since the start of the 2023 season, which began the Rockies’ streak of 100-loss seasons, Los Angeles is 39-11 against the Rockies, including 18-8 at Coors Field.
Ohtani’s bat has been central in that dominance. As Dodgers broadcaster Eric Karros ahead of Monday’s game, “Whenever (Ohtani) sees that Rockies uniform, he gets turned on.”
Consider the following eye-popping statistics:
• Ohtani has a 21-game hit streak at Coors Field, batting .413 (38-for-92) with nine homers and 24 RBIs during the stretch.
• In 25 career games at Coors Field, Ohtani is slashing .398/.459/.786 with a 1.244 OPS, nine homers, 28 runs scored and five steals (no caught stealing). That slash line is Ohtani’s best output in any MLB ballpark that he’s played at least 15 games in, and it’s the highest OPS by an opposing hitter at Coors Field among players with at least 100 plate appearances. Comparing against a larger sample size, for players with at least 200 plate appearances at the stadium, for an opposing hitter are the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa (1.183), Adrian Beltre (1.170 with multiple teams) and the Giants’ Barry Bonds (1.162), while Hall of Famer Larry Walker holds the Rockies’ record at 1.172.
• In 48 total games against the Rockies, Ohtani is slashing .378/.459/.767 with a 1.226 OPS, 19 homers, 48 RBIs, 11 doubles, 54 runs scored and 13 steals (one caught stealing). That’s the highest average, on-base percentage, and OPS versus any opponent, and the second-highest slugging behind the .786 mark that Ohtani posted against the White Sox.
• Of note from Monday, Ohtani’s first homer came against fellow Japanese baseball star Tomoyuki Sugano, who has been far and away the Rockies’ top starter this season. But Ohtani has dominated his countryman in the majors, going 7-for-11 with four homers against the right-hander. After taking Sugano deep 428 feet to left-center in the fifth inning, the slugger launched a 452-foot shot to center off Juan Mejia in the sixth that With that, he now has 26 career homers of 450 feet or more (including the postseason) since the 2021 season, seven more such bombs than anyone else in the majors.
The silver lining in Ohtani’s offensive dominance against the Rockies is that, in a very small sample size, he hasn’t yet conquered them with his arm. Ohtani — who is currently not pitching for Los Angeles as he continues — has only made three starts against Colorado, going 2-1 with a 3.71 ERA and 15 strikeouts across those outings.
But he was blown up in his one career game pitching at Coors Field, on Aug. 20 of last year. In the 8-3 Rockies win, Ohtani took the loss after Colorado blasted him for five runs on nine hits in four innings.
