pitching

And of course a skilled magician, like a technology executive pitching a product, can make an audience believe anything.

“One real strength of this roster is our starting pitching,” Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, said before the game.

“The passion he has for hitting and the passion he has for pitching, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough passion to go around, but there is with him.”

They missed that in the wild-card round, when a string of younger pitchers struggled to consistently find the strike zone while pitching in relief.

If it hadn’t been for that September start against the Phillies, it’s unclear if Ohtani would be pitching with such freedom now.