Michele Tafoya to Los Angeles Angels Broadcast: Enough With Shohei Ohtani

There are a fair amount of smart baseball people who believe we shouldn’t compare Shohei Ohtani to Babe Ruth because it’s unfair … to Ohtani. The dual-threat superstar hit the 100th home run of his Major League Baseball career last night against Oakland as the Los Angeles Angels continue to play excellent ball atop the American League West. Naturally, the Ballys Sports West broadcast cataloged the event and spent some time talking about what a transcendent player Ohtani is, because there won’t ever be another like him.

This displeased Michele Tafoya, who stepped away from NBC and Sunday Night Football to say these types of things. She implored the telecast to talk about something else.

Now, there are so many reasons a person could bristle at repeated mentions of Ohtani so it’s not really fair to assume anything. It does seem odd, though, that the home broadcast of a future Hall of Famer would dial it back when they achieve a milestone. That’s the type of accomplishment that usually gets blown out and driven into the ground.

But we are solutions-oriented here at The Big Lead. We want to give Mark Gubicza, Matt Vasgersian and Patrick O’Neal ample opportunity to fulfill this bizarre request. Because at least 1/3 of the booth seems fond of Tafoya’s work.