Dodgers vs Brewers
With three home runs, 10 strikeouts and six scoreless innings in a win that sends his team back to the World Series, the game’s greatest player authors an unforgettable night at Chavez Ravine
LOS ANGELES — There aren’t enough superlatives left to describe this man, this myth, this legend. And we can’t print curse words in the newspaper, so …
So here’s what I’ve got: Shohei. Ohtani.
If you read that name, you know what I’m sayin’: It simply doesn’t get any greater than.
The greatest player of all time having the greatest game of all time – in no small part because of the great time he picked to have it: Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, World Series berth there for the taking.
Echoed fellow ace pitcher Blake Snell: “That was crazy.”
Manager Dave Roberts: “He created a lot of memories for a lot of people.”
And anyone got any questions anymore about whether he can hit if he pitches in a postseason game? Anyone? Anybody? No? So that’s settled. Ohtani settled it.
The 10-year, $700 million man exploded out of his postseason slump, picked up the Dodgers and launched them back into the World Series with an unprecedented pinch-me performance in a 5-1 victory to sweep the Milwaukee Brewers on an unforgettable night at Chavez Ravine.
Ohtani hadn’t been his best self coming into play; between the four-game series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series and the first three games of the NLCS, Ohtani was 3 for 29 (.103) without a homer, only a pair of RBIs, 14 strikeouts and five walks – three of which were intentional.
But a few hours before Ohtani’s first pitch on Friday, Roberts wasn’t worried.
“This is his opportunity to make his mark on this series,” Roberts predicted. “We’re going to see his best effort. I feel good that he’s pitching for us. And there’s going to be some serious focus and compete tonight.”
No, but seriously. The NLCS MVP and soon-to-be four-time league MVP, baseball’s undisputed unicorn gouged the overmatched Brewers hitters with his nasty array of pitches.
The 31-year-old right-handed pitcher used his cutter, his sweeper, his slider and his heat – a four-seem fastball that touched 100 mph early and remained in the high-90s. He threw 100 pitches and allowed just two hits, the fourth Dodgers pitcher to completely confound Milwaukee in the series sweep.But then there was Ohtani’s Superman quick changes from hurler to slugger, his transformation into the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter who this season hit a personal- and franchise-record 55 home runs.
In the first inning, Ohtani the hitter worked the count full against Milwaukee starter Jose Quintana and then homered to right field – the first home run by a Dodgers pitcher in the postseason.He was feeling good.In his next at-bat in the fourth inning, he crushed his second – the longest hit in the Statcast era, 469 feet, beyond the right-field pavilion roof – something only Willie Stargell and Kyle Schwarber had done.Previously, only one pitcher in postseason history had 10 or more strikeouts and a homer in a game: Bob Gibson, twice.Good company, for sure. Except that Ohtani – the greatest – doesn’t need any.
Hit hit his third bomb – a 427-foot shot to center field – in the seventh inning, pushing the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0 and sending the stadium into delirium.There was a guy – a right-hander named Jim Tobin – who pitched for the Boston Braves and hit three home runs in a big league game back on May 13, 1942, when Major League Baseball had lost many of its stars like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams to military service.Otherwise, nobody else and never before.“He’s just too talented, and it’s not like the moment’s ever too big for him,” Roberts said afterward. “So with that combination, you just know that it’s going to happen at some point.”
Thing is, “it” can mean just about anything when it comes to Ohtani. You don’t even have to be able to dream it and he still might pull it off.Ohtani is only the 12th hitter to go deep three times in a postseason game, though the players on that list – Babe Ruth, twice, and Dodgers Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez, included – weren’t also pitching those games.
There had previously been only 24 home runs hit by pitchers in a playoff game.
So what about Ohtani vs. Ohtani, historically? Mirror, mirror, that might be the only fair comp for the who Roberts correctly calls “the greatest player on the planet.”
On June 27, 2023, Ohtani started for the Angels, got the win – giving up one run in 6⅓ innings – over the Chicago White Sox and hit two home runs.
A pretty, pretty, pretty good game.
And then there was July 27, 2023, when the Angels played two. In the first game of the doubleheader, Ohtani pitched a one-hitter in nine innings in a 6-0 victory over Detroit. Then in Game 2, he came right back and hit two home runs in the Halos’ 11-4 victory.
A pretty, pretty, pretty good day.
But not as good as Friday. Nowhere as great as Friday.
Game 4 was something to toast to, said Ohtani himself, telling his ecstatic “M-V-P!”-chanting fans who hung around to watch him get his NLCS MVP hardware: “I hope everybody in L.A. and Japan and all over the world can enjoy a really good sake.”
Cheers to that. Cheers to Shohei Ohtani.
Shohei Ohtani propelled the Dodgers back to the World Series with a two-way performance for the ages. Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, and the Dodgers swept the Brewers out of the NL Championship Series with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 on Friday night. LAD wins series 4-0.
“Since the beginning of time in baseball, when you have dominant pitching on the mound throwing 98 to 100 (mph), every guy and tremendous offspeed pitches, the command they showed – (catcher) Will Smith deserves a ton of credit,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Yeah. I said it was dominant pitching. If you want to say our offense – I think most offenses would struggle.”
Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich took some responsibility for the offensive outage while also crediting the Dodgers.
“They pitched really well,” Yelich said. “We obviously have some guys not feeling their best at the plate, a couple at the same time, myself included. It’s unfortunate when those rough stretches happen at this time. You don’t want that to happen obviously. They have some great pitchers who had some awesome performances. You combine that with guys scuffling and it’s going to be tough to score runs and create offense.”
This was no ordinary offense that the Dodgers left flailing.
Ohtani, if you can somehow believe it, hit more home runs this night than hits allowed (two) in a performance in front of a sellout crowd of 52,883 that had Dodger Stadium literally shaking.
The 31-year-old's Game 4 exploits earned him the NLCS Most Valuable Player award.
And, oh yeah, the Dodgers are going back to the World Series, too.
The Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1, in the National League Championship Series, their first sweep in a best-of-seven series since the 1963 World Series, but all anyone could talk about was Ohtani and those 1,342 feet worth of homers.
Ohtani, who took the mound at 5:39 local time, had the sellout crowd buzzing from the jump after walking leadoff hitter Brice Turang, and promptly striking out Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and William Contreras.
He stepped to the plate at 5:48 local time, and crushed Brewers starter Jose Quintana’s slurve, sending it 446 feet high to the right-field pavilion.
Patrick tried to fool him by throwing an 89-mph cutter.
Ohtani sent it to orbit, landing almost in Pasadena.
Ohtani dropped his bat, watched the ball soar through the night, clearing the right-field pavilion.
Ohtani was in complete command on the mound, giving up just the double until he began to tire in the seventh inning. He walked Yelich to open the seventh, and Contreras followed with a single, and at 100 pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came out of the dugout to pull him.
The crowd immediately rose to its feet, and as the Dodgers infield encircled Ohtani on the mound, he handed the ball to Roberts and the roar could be heard to Malibu.
But, Ohtani only left the game as a pitcher.
He came right back in the bottom of the seventh inning as a hitter, courtesy of the Ohtani Rule.
Brewers closer Trevor Megill got ahead of Ohtani, and on a 1-and-2 count, tried to throw a 98.9-mph fastball past him.
And he became Ohtani’s third victim.
Ohtani crushed the fastball 427 feet over the center field fence, with the crowd screaming in disbelief.
The Brewers could only sit back and watch in awe, with Ohtani and the Dodgers beating the Brewers in every phase of the game.
The Brewers, who led the National League in batting average, produced just 14 hits the entire series, batting .113. They scored one run in Game 1, one run in Game 2, one run in Game 3 and one in Game 4.
The Dodgers, who lost all six games in the regular season against the Brewers, completely outmanned them when it counted, leading in 35 of the 36 innings.
Los Angeles, which didn’t get a first-round bye, will now have a week off now before opening the World Series on Oct. 24 against the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays.
They Dodgers will be well-rested. And that deep slump Ohtani (.103 in the NLDS and NLCS) was in before Game 4? Well, that’s over, too.
“I think this is his opportunity to make his mark on this series," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game.
Blake Treinen came on to pitch the eighth for the Dodgers with a four-run lead. He surrendered a leadoff double to Caleb Durbin and walked Andruw Monasterio but struck out Isaac Collins for the first out. Lefty Anthony Banda came in with runners on first and third and got Brice Turang to ground out, bringing home the Brewers' first run. Banda gave up a single to Jackson Chourio but got Christian Yelich to ground out and end the inning with a 5-1 lead.
After his night ended on the mound in the top of the seventh, Shohei Ohtani stepped to the plate in the bottom of the inning and crushed his third home run of the night, this one to center field against Brewers All-Star Trevor Megill.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts let Shohei Ohtani go back out for the seventh inning on 87 pitches. Ohtani walked Christian Yelich to lead off and then gave up a single to William Contreras, ending his night to a rapturous ovation.
Posted on 2025/10/18 11:25 AM