"40-40 season coming" - Shohei Ohtani's strong offensive outing against Padres draws bold prediction from Ben Verlander

Barely an hour after the 2024 season started, avid Shohei Ohtani fan Ben Verlander made a bold prediction. The MLB insider prophesied that Ohtani will record a 40-40 this season.

Finishing a season with 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases is such a rare feat that it has only been accomplished five times. Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and most recently, reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. achieved it just last season.

Despite the rarity of the feat, Verlander has predicted Ohtani to achieve it this year with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I said it before I’ll say it again. With Shohei Ohtani not pitching this year, he will show off his speed much more. 40-40 season coming for Shohei this year." - Ben Verlander

Verlander tweeted during the much-anticipated game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea. There have been multiple storylines in the build-up of the baseball spectacle, none bigger than Ohtani's debut for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers came from behind to take down the Padres 5-2 in their curtain raiser. Shohei Ohtani ended the game with two hits, an RBI and the sole stolent base recorded in the game.

If he continues at this pace, it would be difficult to argue the prophecy made by his biggest fan, Ben Verlander.

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How Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers clutched out win in Seoul

For the first time in South Korea's long and rich baseball history, an MLB regular season game was played.

The Los Angeles Dodgers emerged triumphant against their National League West nemesis, the San Diego Padres, at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.

The Padres drew first blood through Xander Bogaerts' line drive single that drove in Tyler Wade in the bottom of the third inning. The Dodgers tied the game through Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning.

San Diego regained the lead in the following half inning through Luis Campusano's grounded out to a double play drove in Manny Machado. Dodgers debutant Tyler Glasnow was pulled from the mound after five innings after surrendering two hits, two earned runs and four walks.

Los Angeles would then surge and eke out a comeback in the eighth inning. Max Muncy scored through a Kike Hernandez flyout, which tied the ball game. Gavin Lux would reach on a fielder's choice, wghch gave the Dodgers the lead after Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth committed an error.

Finally, Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani finished off proceedings with back-to-back singles, making it 5-2.

The two teams meet again at 6:05 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. San Diego's Joe Musgrove will have his work cut out, as he will face NPB and Japan national team ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who will make his MLB debut.