As Japan prepared to face the US in the finals of the World Baseball Classic last year, Shohei Ohtani famously warned his teammates to stop worshiping their American counterparts. “If we idolize them, we cannot surpass them,” he said. The advice worked and Japan won with Ohtani closing out the game in the ninth inning.

Now the tables have turned and the baseball world idolizes Ohtani. Win or lose with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs, Ohtani has not only already achieved what many are calling the greatest individual game in Major League Baseball history, but also the best season. Sports journalism has too few superlatives for him: such is his dominance that he is sometimes called “the most talented player to ever step onto a baseball field” and a “lion who plays with cubs.”