baseball astrology v. 1: shohei ohtani
where the f is this man's moon?!?
Despite working at Major League Baseball for the last seven years, I don’t really know anything about baseball. And despite my IG handle being sportsgirl420, I don’t really care about sports. But do you know what makes me like sports? Astrology! It doesn’t really make sense, since it doesn’t seem like the two have anything in common. But as soon as I started looking at sports (specifically baseball) through an astrological lens, my interest was piqued.
Let me backup a little and get into my personal history with baseball - I grew up amongst generations of hardcore fans. My grandpa was obsessed with baseball, my mom’s #1 crush in the early aughts was Mike Piazza, and my brother had a cardboard cutout of him in a Mets uniform at his Bar Mitzvah. The only part of baseball that I really enjoyed was the food. Mets games meant melted soft serve in a plastic cap and playoffs meant my mom buying a big box of Bazooka gum and my brother’s Little League games meant trying to fit as much Big League chew in my mouth as possible (going to unpack my sugar addiction in a future newsletter, stay tuned). Mostly I thought baseball was boring as fuck and I hated when my whole family would scream at the TV from a bad play or an out. Little did I know how much baseball season would continue to stress me out in the future, lol!
Anyway, despite not giving a shit about sports, I ended up working at MLB in 2016 and have been there ever since. In 2020, astrologer Rebecca Gordon (and one of my first teachers) wrote about astrology’s influence on the upcoming season for MLB.com. Hmmm..I want to do that! I thought. And I’ve kind of done it - I wrote about breakout hitters and their astrology in 2021, and was pushed by my director to create some sort of baseball-astro content in 2022 but dragged my feet on it because I was too busy with my actual job. But the desire to combine these two hasn’t left! So while I’m still trying to pursue it professionally, I also want to explore it on my own terms - finding baseball things that stand out to me and then explore them through astrology. And I want to start with Shohei Ohtani and an interesting dilemma that I came across when looking at his chart.
I sort of knew who Ohtani was because even though I’m clueless about sports, I sit under a TV that plays MLB Network 24/7 so some of the info makes its way into my brain. Ohtani is currently one of the best players in the league - he’s known for being a once-in-a-lifetime talent, hitting a gazillion home runs and getting a gazillion people out from pitching. Ohtani was born on July 5, 1994, making him a Cancer. I originally looked into Ohtani’s astrology because Tommy suggested that I compare him and Babe Ruth since they’re both two-way players (really good at pitching and hitting). What do you know, Babe Ruth was a Cancer moon and rising. What’s up with the Cancers and being really good at two positions? I would think this would be a Gemini quality - being able to expertly switch between hitting and pitching. And this is where some confusion comes in.
When I pulled up Ohtani’s chart, I did what I normally do when looking at new charts - seeing what the Sun was up to, where’s the moon, what aspects do we have going on. Since we don’t have Ohtani’s time of birth, we don’t have a rising sign, but what makes his untimed chart extra peculiar is his moon sign. When you don’t have a birth time, Astro.com automatically sets the moon to where it was at noon on that day. And for Ohtani, that was at 29 degrees of Taurus. So if he was born any earlier in the day, he’s a Taurus moon. But if he was born even an hour later, he would be a Gemini moon. I became obsessed - which sign is his moon in?!?! I had to know!!
After doing a bunch of research about Shohei Ohtani, I can make a case for both signs. Obviously there’s a lot of other things that are important in his chart - he has a 0 degree Gemini Mars which could be beneficial for two-way playing, as Mars rules your energy and athleticism. He also has a 29 degree Gemini Mercury - also helpful for making fast decisions and being mentally flexible, which I’m sure is necessary for split-second decisions during a game. His Cancer sun is wonderfully supported in a trine from his natal Saturn in Pisces - hard work comes naturally to him, which checks out with years of training to make it to the Major Leagues. His Leo Venus is in a pretty tight square with Pluto, setting him up to becoming one of the most famous and powerful players in the game.
But despite yielding a lot of power on the field, he seems like such a nice guy (dare I say…an Angel?? wah wahhhh)! He definitely seems like a Cancer - from what I’ve gathered, he doesn’t really talk to the media (Cancers can be shy) and I saw a vid of him apologizing to a player after he got him out (I did the same when I checked a girl in the head during a high school lacrosse game). I’ve also noticed that Cancers can be very Capricorn-y - it seems like Ohtani always wanted to be a baseball player and worked as hard as possible to ultimately be one of the best in the league. But ok cool, it makes sense that he’s a Cancer, what about his moon sign??
I’m very torn on the Gemini vs Taurus of it all. I’ve found two solid examples that present a case for either sign. First, we have this Sports Illustrated article from spring 2022. It praises Ohtani for being a legendary player but also…a legendary PRANKSTER. This man loves pranks! He performs CPR on his bat, he taps teammates on the shoulder and pretends it wasn’t him, and apparently he likes to “giggle a lot.” Gemini, ruled by Mercury, is a trickster sign - it likes pulling your leg and confusing you with riddles. The sign is symbolized by two little mischievous twins after all! Ohtani also kind of looks like a Gemini - despite being pretty massive in stature, he has a bit of a baby face (and he’s not young for baseball - he’s turning 29 this year, which is kind of ancient in sports world). You would think all of this points to being a Gemini moon, but then I saw this video that changed everything.
Last year, Ohtani appeared in a GQ video detailing ten things he can’t live without. Some of these things included a custom pillow and a special weighted eye mask - this screams Taurus to me. Taurus likes comfortable, luxurious things and doesn’t mind spending $$ to get them. Sleep hygiene is especially important to a Cancer sun with a Taurus moon, two notoriously sleepy signs. When talking about the cleats that he wears on the field, he mentions that he “basically keeps using the same things.” Taurus behavior! Taurus is a fixed sign that doesn’t like changing up how they do things. Ohtani also channels the Taurus spirit with his unwavering dedication towards improving his game. Side note, the comments on this video are so funny. Literally everyone comments on how humble he is and how he doesn’t need “chains, watches, and lavish things.” Lowkey Cancer king!
Even after watching a bunch of Ohtani videos and reading a bunch of articles, I’m still undecided on his moon sign. Do you have any ideas?? Please, weigh in! I might lean towards Gemini because a Taurus moon might want to show off their flashy shit in a GQ video. But a Gemini moon might be too scattered to become the best baseball player of our lifetime so…jury’s out for now. I’m interested to see how the beginning of this season plays out for Ohtani since regardless of his moon sign, he’s currently going through transiting Saturn square his natal Gemini Mars (oh yeah, happy Saturn in Pisces?!). This might slow him down and cause some internal frustration with his performance. He’s currently playing in the World Baseball Classic (ok sportsgirl420) so we’ll have to watch and see what happens! Hopefully you enjoyed this little informal look at baseball astrology and more to come!
Just Emily things!
I wrote about Pisces celebrities and their homes for Architectural Digest. Pisces are obsessed with the sea?? And I’m obsessed with Kathy Hilton’s home! That leads me to my next point…
Drew and I on Pisces season and Saturn in Pisces on Spiritual Sonja! This is for the non-Bravo heads since we break down Saturn in Pisces through all the different houses. Also I realized on air that my mom and Kathy Hilton are born a week apart…cursed and explains a lot!
I’m still giving readings! Book Zoom and recorded readings here. The astrology is basically nuts from now until…idk…the summer? Lol so LET ME GUIDE YOU THROUGH IT!
Talk to you soon!
ET
This is totally anecdotal but I have been recently obsessed with Ohtani he’s such a cutie and I realized it’s because he’s so similar to my boyfriend. Both large baby face men. I later found out they share the same birthday, July 5th, which made so much sense. My boyfriend is a Taurus moon, and like I said they are similar to eachother so therefore I really think Ohtani is also a Taurus moon. I could see Gemini moon though. I’m like 80/20.
Great write up. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight. I'm going with Gemini Moon, because I don't think a Taurus Moon would be as cool with deferring their $700 million salary like Ohtani did. He doesn't seem materialistic at all. At the same time his demeanor seems very Taurus, because he seems so chill, but that fact that it's difficult to make a decision, and I keep wavering back and forth I have to go with Gemini. He seems like a really light hearted guy, but he can also come across as serious and aloof in his interviews. Plus, the obvious, he pitches and hits, screams Gemini. My guess is he's a Libra Rising, 9th House Sun, 8th House Gemini Moon and Mars.