The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the World Series for the second time in as many years. For that, they can thank Shohei Ohtani.
The two-way star made his first and only start on the mound in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Friday at Dodger Stadium against the Milwaukee Brewers. All he did was hit three home runs, and throw six scoreless innings, in the Dodgers’ 5-1 win.
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After the game Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked if anything can surprise him from Ohtani, who was named MVP of the series.
“How far he hit this one tonight surprised me,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s 469-foot home run that left his bat at 116.9 mph per Statcast. “Probably not the distance, but the velocity of that one was impressive.”
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Ohtani had a game for the ages. Among his many individual accomplishments Friday:
• He became the 11th player to hit three home runs in a postseason game — the first since former Dodger Chris Taylor did so in Game 5 of the 2021 NLCS
• He became the second pitcher in American or National League history to hit three home runs in a game, and the first since Jim Tobin in May 1942
• He became the first pitcher to lead off a game with a home run
• He became the first Dodgers pitcher to hit a home run in the postseason
Ohtani began the series with only two hits in his first 14 plate appearances, but finished it with a game that both Roberts and Brewers manager Pat Murphy hailed as an all-time performance.
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For his part, Ohtani downplayed his “slump” at the plate coming into the game.
“I felt like the last couple days I felt pretty good at the plate,” Ohtani said, via interpreter Will Ireton. “Just because of the postseason sample size, the lack thereof, it’s just that. The lack of performance skews in a short period of time.”
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