Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound Tuesday, April 28, to face the Miami Marlins. Currently leading the National League with a 0.38 ERA, Ohtani is cementing his case for the 2026 Cy Young Award.

In his first four starts of 2026, Ohtani has a 2-0 record with an ERA of 0.38 after allowing only one earned run over 24 innings of work.

He’s also struck out 25 batters and walked only six on balls, though he has hit a seventh batter with a pitch.

Granted, his FIP is 1.92 — still great, but not quite 0.38 great — but his WHIP is only 0.750, and Baseball Savant has Ohtani putting up elite numbers.

Ohtani has had strong years on the mound before, but never in so many categories at once.

Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain broke down Ohtani’s great outing against the San Francisco Giants, and it appears offseason work is paying off.

That night, he pitched six innings and struck out seven while allowing five hits, no walks and no earned runs.

Ohtani’s four-seam fastball, which regularly sits in the mid-to-high 90s but can top 100 mph when he wants to go full-throttle, has been confounding hitters.

“The mechanics are so much better this year on that pitch,” McKain explained.

And the improved command on that fastball makes his other pitches even more effective, especially his splitter and sweeper.

The sweeper, for example, starts out looking like the fastball.

“Then it has that late, late bite to it, that horizontal movement and [the hitter] is swinging underneath it,” he said.

Then, as his outing goes on, Ohtani can mix in the splitter.

“He still has [the] sweeper, can mix in [the] curveball, can throw a splitter that’s devastating when he needs it,” McKain said.

Ohtani next takes the mound Tuesday night against the Miami Marlins.

First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. PT, and the game will air on SportsNet LA.

Do you think Shohei Ohtani can keep up his hot start to the season on the mound?