Do the Padres Have the Shohei Ohtani Stopper?
So far through the early part of the season, the San Diego Padres have been one of the few teams that has been able to keep pace with the Dodgers when faced against them. San Diego has taken two of three matchups against Los Angeles so far, even though it's a very small sample size.
The Padres defeated the rival Dodgers again on Friday evening in extra innings, helping them gain some momentum for the rest of the series. But one player in particular has seemed to find great success against an unlikely Los Angeles player.
That would be left-hander Tom Cosgrove, who improved his career chances against the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani. Cosgrove has faced Ohtani five times during his career and the two-way superstar is 0-5 against him.
Now calling Cosgrove the Ohtani stopper may be a little premature, but he has found success against him. It hasn't been easy for pitchers to make Ohtani look bad so credit to Cosgrove for doing so. This will be something to watch as the two teams continue to face off this season and beyond.