Shohei Ohtanis historic season enabling MLBs money-first con

You want fries with that slab of lard?Sunday night on ESPN, a Phillies-Mets “Fan Appreciation Day” game and home finale that was moved from 1 p.m.to night for ESPN money, and the Phils’ Kyle Schwarber led off the game.Schwarber is a thoroughly new-age star as he “plays” mostly as a DH, leads off, hits a lot of home runs and draws many walks but strikes out about 200 times per season trying to hit homers while annually trying to bat above .200.

All plenty good enough to sign a four-year, $80 million deal.On Sunday, Schwarber struck out swinging on the first three pitches thrown by Tylor Megill.Strike three was on the high side, a fastball described in a graphic as a “96-mph sinker.” Huh? Play-by-play parrot Karl Ravech called it “an elevated sinker, at 96.”David Cone, who pitched 17 years in the bigs, did not explain how one throws “a 96-mph elevated sinker,” perhaps because there’s no such thing.

Is it anything like “a drug deal gone bad?”And the telecast — ESPN assigned Philly a “68 percent win probability” after taking a 1-0 lead in the first before the Mets won in nine — was, naturally, stuffed with attention to the latest superhuman achievements of Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s international cash cow, from jerseys, TV deals and schedules to paywall-hidden telecasts and, now, Ohtani stepped-on dirt that the Dodgers are selling — no fooling — for $150 a bag.By now, as likely was commissioner Rob Manfred and Co.’s greatest bottom-line wish, we should have all forgotten that Ohtani’s U.S.-based interpreter and valet, Ippei Mizuhara, pleaded guilty to almost $17 million in bank and tax fraud as part of his nearly $41 million in sports gambling losses.Mizuhara, as per guidelines ahead of his Oct.25 sentencing, likely will serve between 51 and 63 months — not too bad if, as the reasonable suspect, he’s a bag man-in-waiting.Unsurprisingly, MLB portrayed Ohtani as a totally innocent victim of his excessive, blind trust in allow...