The St. Louis Cardinals stand between Shohei Ohtani and a major milestone

As the St. Louis Cardinals continue battling for a Postseason spot, they're entering one of the most difficult stretches of their season, including a three-game weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the Dodgers have struggled this season, they're getting healthier and will prove a very difficult team for the Cardinals to beat. Moreover, two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is chasing a major career milestone, which can only come against the Cardinals.

After homering against the Philadelphia Phillies on August 5th, Shohei Ohtani checked a 29th team off his list of Major League clubs he's hit a home run against. The last team he's failed to accomplish this against is the Cardinals. With the balanced schedule and teams playing more games against the opposite league, this feat has become a lot easier to achieve but is still a major milestone in the career of any Major League player.

Moreover, Shohei Ohtani would become the only player to accomplish this against the Cardinals without playing a game for St. Louis previously. The only other three players to do this, Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Randal Grichuk, played extensively in St. Louis (also all former Angels, funnily enough). Ohtani had played against the Cardinals in three series previously, twice with the Angels and once with the Dodgers to open the 2024 season, so it's quite impressive that Cardinals pitching has managed to keep him at bay.

With nine more seasons in the National League with the Dodgers, Shohei is bound to do it eventually, but he could achieving it in his first year with a new team would be quite special. After all, hitting a home run against the only team you've ever played for is impossible. As such, franchise legends like Yadier Molina never reached this milestone. Ohtani clubbed two massive homers against Anaheim earlier this season, leaving a few National League teams, including St. Louis, on the list.

The Cardinals will already have their hands full with a Dodgers superteam coming to town, but they'll have to keep a closer watch on Shohei Ohtani. After all, they're the only team stopping him from adding another home run to his extensive trophy case.