According to news stories from several Japanese outlets (such as Yahoo! Japan and Nikkan Sports, spotted by Automaton), Konami has buffed LA Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani in an upcoming baseball game in response to his incredible performance this season.
The 30-year-old pitcher and designated hitter is already considered one of the best to play the sport. Not many baseball players have excelled at both pitching and hitting like he does, and although Ohtani hasn't pitched this year because he's recovering from an elbow injury, he still managed to set a new record by becoming the first MLB player to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. He's now on 53 homers and 55 steals, and there are still games to play.
As a result of his performance, Konami reportedly upgraded Ohtani's special base stealing ability from a "C" to an "A" in Professional Baseball Spirits 2024-2025, a region-locked baseball game releasing in Japan this October.
According to Sankei Digital outlet Iza, Japanese baseball fans are having fun with the news on social media, saying that reality is outpacing the developers and that representing Ohtani's (who is sometimes referred to as a real-life "create-a-player") true ability in the game is the equivalent of using hacks to cheat.
The LA Dodgers are at the top of the National League West going into this year's playoffs, which start in October. Also, I'm mildly disappointed that I can't play Professional Baseball Spirits 2024-2025, which I'm hearing about for the first time—it looks pretty cool. You can check out the Steam page if you use a VPN to pretend you're in Japan, assuming you're not actually in Japan.
