After an almost inconceivable start to the season on the mound, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani has come back to earth ever so slightly in his recent starts, and there may be an obvious reason for that.
The trend continued on Wednesday night, when Ohtani pitched a solid six innings, allowing three runs, two of which were earned, in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.
But one moment between Ohtani and second-year catcher Dalton Rushing particularly caught the eye of fans.
Dalton Rushing disagreed with Shohei Ohtani’s decision to challenge.
Shohei was right pic.twitter.com/v1g2T8tbxI
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 25, 2026
In the bottom of the second inning, and with runners on second and third with one out, Ohtani delivered a 1-1 sweeper to batter Ryan Kreidler.
The umpire called the pitch a ball, and Ohtani immediately challenged, drawing a frustrated reaction from Rushing, who shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Sure enough, the pitch was overturned and called a strike.
Now, normally, a disagreement between a pitcher and catcher wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, it happens all the time. However, in this case, there may well be more to look at.
Dalton Rushing Has Made Shohei Ohtani Significantly Worse This Season
As we mentioned, Ohtani started the season with absolutely jaw-dropping numbers on the mound, and much of that could be attributed to working with star catcher Will Smith.
In 10 starts with Smith behind the plate this season, Ohtani has allowed just five earned runs and has had a minuscule 0.74 ERA.
However, Smith has missed time throughout the season due to ongoing neck inflammation, meaning that Ohtani has made three starts pitching to Rushing instead. In those three starts, he has allowed nine earned runs and has a 4.34 ERA, leading to speculation that Rushing is setting his ace up for failure.
In fact, Ohtani showed visible frustration with Rushing on multiple occasions against the Twins.
Rushing was also seen beating himself up over the instances in the dugout, and said after the game that he was embarrassed about teammates having to step in and help him compose himself.
Perhaps it’s nothing. But Rushing has already earned a bit of a tough reputation across the league, and being on the wrong side of the bets and the most-popular player in Major League Baseball won’t help that cause.
The post Bizarre Challenge Reaction And Eye-Popping Numbers Suggest Dalton Rushing Is Sabotaging Shohei Ohtani appeared first on BroBible.
Bizarre Challenge Reaction And Eye-Popping Numbers Suggest Dalton Rushing Is Sabotaging Shohei Ohtani
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