Shohei Ohtani took the mound Wednesday against the San Diego Padres carrying one of the most remarkable early-season pitching lines in modern baseball history, according to CBS Sports. His 0.82 ERA through seven starts is the sixth-lowest in MLB through a pitcher's first seven starts since the wild-card era began in 1994, and it is the second-lowest in Dodgers history at that point in a season, trailing only Fernando Valenzuela's 0.29 ERA in 1981.
The last pitcher to carry a lower ERA at this stage of a season was Jacob deGrom, who sat at 0.80 through seven starts in 2021.
Ohtani's most recent outing came last Wednesday against the Giants, when the Dodgers had lost four games in a row. He threw seven scoreless innings, struck out eight batters, and allowed only four hits in a 4-0 victory. That improved his record to 3-2. Notably, he did not exceed six innings pitched at any point during the entire 2025 season. The seven-inning performance against San Francisco was a new threshold.
Wednesday's start also marked Ohtani's return as a two-way player in a single game. The last time he both pitched and hit in the same game was April 22 in San Francisco, when he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout while throwing six shutout innings, though the Dodgers lost that game and Ohtani received a no-decision.
The Dodgers have since opted to keep Ohtani focused solely on pitching on days he is scheduled to start, partly due to a hitting slump early in the season. His batting average had fallen to .233 at one point, but he enters Wednesday on a six-game hitting streak with five multi-hit games, pushing his average up to .272. He has seven home runs on the season and has hit just one in May. A built-in off day Thursday factored into the team's decision to let him hit Wednesday as well.
Ohtani is listed as a +700 fifth favorite for the NL Cy Young Award, behind Paul Skenes at +230, Cristopher Sanchez at +250, Jacob Misiorowski at +550, and Chris Sale at +600. For another MVP award, he is a heavy -475 favorite.
Valenzuela, whose 1981 ERA record Ohtani is chasing at Dodger Stadium, won the NL Cy Young that year. DeGrom, whose 0.80 ERA in 2021 is the closest modern comparison to Ohtani's current mark, was not a factor in that year's award race after his season was cut short.
