Shohei Ohtani's return to the mound is one of the most anticipated stories in MLB. This weekend, the Japanese phenomenon of the Los Angeles Dodgers took a significant step by facing live batters for the first time since his UCL surgery in September 2023.

For the second straight day, Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a home run, and in the Dodgers' 7-2 win over the Guardians on Monday, he did it on the first pitch he saw. Ohtani turned around a 96.5 mph fastball from starter Gavin Williams,

Shohei Ohtani took back control of the league lead in home runs, hitting his 19th of the season on the first pitch of Monday's game.

Facing countryman Kodai Senga, Ohtani cranked the ball 108.2 mph to the second deck at Citi Field, with Statcast projecting the distance at 411 feet. It was Ohtani's 18th homer of the year, tying him with Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead. It was also only the second homer Senga had allowed all season.

An entertainer entertained right from the jump, first going through a mock sticky-substance check before facing off with Hyeseong Kim, who sent a hard-hit comebacker right at Ohtani — who stabbed it with his glove with no issue, plenty of “Wow” heard from the Dodgers contingent.

Never thought I’d be here again. So much time has passed. So much self-importance has floated across my gaze. So much strutting, chest thumping, braying like a mule. So many games felt like an ego audition.

It had been 641 days since Shohei Ohtani last threw a pitch to a live hitter from a big-league mound.At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, inside an empty Citi Field on a cool afternoon in Queens, he finally did so again — this time,