Shohei Ohtani delivers a historic two-way performance to propel the Dodgers into their second straight appearance in the Fall Classic.
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
Rafu Sports Editor
Kicking off the Dodgers’ official announcement that Shohei Ohtani was going to join their team in December 2023, TV announcer Joe Davis led with an oft-repeated description of the two-way star: a once-in-a-generation player
Ohtani has routinely been called the greatest player on the planet, the second coming of Babe Ruth, even the best in the history of the sport. With such haughty praise comes lofty expectations, yet it is the exceedingly rare occasion that a sports figure lives up to the hype – rarer still to surpass it.
In just under two seasons, the boy from Iwate Prefecture who grew up vowing to be the game’s very best has left little doubt that all those exalted expectations might have fallen a bit short.
Last season, unable to pitch due to his recovering from elbow surgery, all he did was become the first-ever player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.
This year, he’s back on the mound, and has been as dominating as ever.
Last Friday, Ohtani delivered a stunning performance in Game 4 the National League Championship Series, pitching and hitting the Dodgers to a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, and sending L.A. to its second straight World Series.
As the starting pitcher, Ohtani tossed six-plus shutout innings, striking out 10 batters while giving up only two hits and earning the 5-1 victory. As the designated hitter, he was other-worldly, slugging three home runs, including a jaw-dropping shot that cleared the roof of the right-field pavilion.
It probably goes without saying that Ohtani was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player.
“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who will try to lead his team to the first repeat World Series title in 25 years. “There’s been a lot of postseason games, and there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet.
“What he did on the mound, what he did at the bat, he created a lot of memories for a lot of people … to do it in a game-clinching game at home, wins the NLCS MVP, pretty special. I’m just happy to be able to go along for the ride.”
Former Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser has called Game 2 of the 1988 World Series the best baseball game he ever played. The right-hander threw a complete-game shutout against the mighty Oakland A’s, and smacked three hits (the National League pitchers batted in those days), including a pair of doubles in the 6-0 win.
Asked about with the buzz of his own performance last week being the greatest game ever played, the Japanese star was as humble and deflecting as ever.
“There were at times during the postseason where Teo [Hernández] and Mookie [Betts] picked me up,” Ohtani said during the postgame press conference, referring to his lackluster .158 batting average during the playoffs prior to Game 4. “This time around, it was my turn to be able to perform. I think just looking back over the course of the entire postseason, I haven’t performed to the expectation, but I think today we saw what our left-handed hitters could do.”
I’ve seen thousands of baseball games in my lifetime, and I cannot think of a more stunning single-game display by one player. It’s highly unlike that anyone will ever match such an individual display on the field – unless of course, Ohtani himself does it again, a very distinct possibility.To consider the comparisons to other memorable postseason performances makes Ohtani’s feat all the more impressive. There have been pitching gems – Sandy Koufax and Don Larsen both threw no-hitters in the World Series, the latter a perfect game masterpiece.
Koufax hit two home runs over the course of his career, while Larsen hit seven. None came in the postseason.
Twelve players have clubbed three homers in a single postseason game, perhaps the most celebrated being Reggie Jackson’s trio of dingers that tormented the Dodgers in the 1977 World Series and earned him the nickname “Mr. October.”
Others who have done it include a couple of current and recent Dodgers – Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor – and of course, that fellow Ruth.
Other than the Babe, none of those guys pitched.
Believe it or not, there is a pitcher who had three home runs in a game, albeit a regular-season affair. Jim Tobin of the 1942 Boston Braves went 3-for-4 with three homers and four RBI, all the while throwing a 6-5 complete game win over the Chicago Cubs
What sets Ohtani apart is not only the stat sheet, but the context. He did it in the playoffs. He was dominant on the mound with a trip to the World Series hanging in the balance. He was mired in a playoff 6-for-38 batting slump that had even his most ardent fans concerned.
And let it not be overlooked that Ohtani’s performance came not in mid-May, against some lowly last-placed team, but rather against a Brewers club that posted the best regular-season record in all of baseball – and had won all six of their games against the Dodgers before the playoffs.
As for that second home run – measured at 469 feet from home plate — there’s still some debate whether it glanced off the roof over the pavilion or cleared it. Either way, it’s the third-longest homer calculated by StatCast, the company that has been compiling Major League Baseball data since 2015. The only two that flew farther in that time were hit by Giancarlo Stanton of the Florida Marlins and – who else? – Ohtani.
On the television broadcast, play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson seemed to run out of descriptors at the sight Ohtani’s monstrous shot, bellowing, “Oh my goodness!” as fans and his Dodger teammates watched in stunned disbelief.
Only seven players have hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium. Since 2020, a fan plaza and concourse behind the pavilions has replaced the original parking lots there, but clearing the roof is still considered “out.” The great Willie Stargell did it twice, including what is considered the longest-ever at Chavez Ravine, a mind-bending shot estimated at 506 feet in 1969. Other homers to leave the building came off the bats of Stargell (1973), Mike Piazza (1997), Mark McGwire (1999), Stanton (2015), Fernando Tatis Jr. (2021), Kyle Schwarber (earlier this month in the NL Division Series) and Ohtani, last week.
Ohtani’s third home run ball landed in the lap of David Flores, a boxing trainee from Santa Fe Springs. He said he fully plans to sell the ball – some estimates put its value at upwards of $1 million – and use the windfall to send his 12-year-old son to the best schools possible.“This ball is life-changing,” Flores told a local news station.
Ohtani and the Dodgers will look to be the first team to repeat as World Series champions since 1999, when they take on the Blue Jays beginning Friday. The first two games of the best-of-seven series will be played in Toronto, with the the next three set for Dodger Stadium. Should Games 6 and 7 be necessary, the series would shift back to Canada.
Still damp from the champagne-soaked celebration in the Dodgers’ clubhouse after last Friday’s pennant-clinching victory, Ohtani said he was in a comfort zone both on the mound and at the plate.
“I had the best feeling with both. As a whole, it was too good to be true.”
All of baseball seems to be in agreement with that assessment.
