Browsing: Shohei

• Bradford Doolittle

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  Bradford Doolittle

  ESPN Staff Writer

  • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Been with ESPN since 2013

• David Schoenfield

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  David Schoenfield

  ESPN Senior Writer

  • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
  • Former deputy editor of Page 2
  • Been with ESPN.com since 1995

Oct 23, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

When the 2025 World Series starts Friday night in Toronto, Shohei Ohtani will step to the plate for the first at-bat of the Fall Classic wearing the Los Angeles Dodgers uniform we’ve all become accustomed to seeing him in over the past two MLB seasons.

But there is another world, one not as far-fetched as you might think, where Ohtani could instead be toeing the rubber for Game 1 — and coming up to bat in the bottom of the first inning — for the Toronto Blue Jays instead.

Similarly, Roki Sasaki has changed Los Angeles’ postseason by emerging as the flamethrowing closer the Dodgers desperately needed to solidify a shaky bullpen this month. But in another world, also not that far removed, Sasaki could be playing the part of rookie sensation for the Blue Jays instead of facing them with games on the line.

How close were Ohtani and Sasaki to picking the Blue Jays over the Dodgers as their much-hyped free agent decisions played out? How did the two tense decision days — one that turned the entire internet into international flight trackers — go down? How good would the Blue Jays have been the past two seasons with Ohtani on their roster? And what would the Dodgers have done to counter if they had lost out on baseball’s two-way superstar?

Let’s dig in.

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Ohtani timeline | Sasaki timeline | Jays with Ohtani | Dodgers’ Plan B?

Timeline of the Ohtani, Blue Jays deal that never happened

The jokes are now everywhere: Hey, Shohei Ohtani is finally getting on a plane to Toronto. The Dodgers actually played in Toronto in April 2024, but we get it: There was that frenzied Friday in December 2023 when everybody thought Ohtani was on a plane headed to Toronto to sign with the Blue Jays.

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What happened that day, Friday, Dec. 8? First, a user on a social media site posted that Thursday evening that a private jet — tail number N616RH — was scheduled to fly from Southern California to Toronto on Friday morning. Somebody else discovered the same jet had been in Oakland when Ohtani had met with the San Francisco Giants. A baseball writer pointed out that Ohtani’s decision to sign with the Angels six years before had come on … Dec. 8.

It was all adding up. The Dodgers Nation fan site published a report saying Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays. Then MLB Network reported that Ohtani was traveling to Toronto. With N616RH in the air, fans began assembling at the private terminal at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

But it wasn’t Ohtani on the plane. It was “Shark Tank” judge Robert Herjavec. On Saturday, Ohtani posted his decision on Instagram: “I have decided to choose the Dodgers as my next team.” The rest is history.

Timeline of the Sasaki, Blue Jays deal that also never happened

Upon announcing he would be coming to the majors from Japan early in the 2024-25 offseason, Roki Sasaki immediately became the most coveted free agent available, thanks to his immense talent and the team-friendly conditions of his contract.

After meeting with several teams, Sasaki’s camp revealed that the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Giants had all been told they were out of the running — leaving three suitors as finalists: the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers and, surprisingly, the Blue Jays.

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In the final days leading up to the decision, Sasaki reportedly visited Toronto and the Jays suddenly appeared to be a real player in what had previously seemed to be a race between the two NL West teams vying for his services.

The Blue Jays’ flames were further fanned when reports came out Jan. 17 that the Padres were also out, meaning Sasaki’s decision — much like Ohtani’s an offseason earlier — would come down to Los Angeles and Toronto. The Blue Jays even made a deal with the Cleveland Guardians taking on outfielder Myles Straw, and the $13.8 million remaining on Straw’s contract, to acquire an additional $2 million in international bonus space — presumably to use on Sasaki.

Then that evening — just as Ohtani had done 13 months prior — Sasaki announced via Instagram that he would be joining the Dodgers, and Toronto was left at the doorstep once again.

Simulating the last two seasons with Ohtani in Toronto

What if Shohei Ohtani had gone from the Angels to the Blue Jays — and was sharing a dugout with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. this October? Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images

There are a lot of choices to make when reimagining baseball history, especially when you’re talking about a transaction at the top of the hierarchy such as when Ohtani chose the Dodgers.

Once that domino fell, it set off a chain reaction that worked its way through most if not all of the majors. You can’t simply put the domino back upright, push it down the opposite direction and see how things follow.

So we’ll make a few choices, run some simulations and see where we are.

Dodgers: The L.A. part of this is more straightforward. Removing Ohtani from their mix the last two seasons would hurt them, because he produces at a level few other players can approach. But it’s not as if the Dodgers would have folded up their checkbook and gone home. They would have reallocated some portion of the funds they allotted for Ohtani to other players (see Dave’s possibilities in the next section).

For the sake of coming up with a revised Dodgers baseline, it’s better to avoid trying to guess how the Dodgers might have spent the money.

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So let’s use a standard instead. The Dodgers’ competitive balance tax hit for Ohtani, per Cot’s Contracts, is estimated at $46 million per season. There’s a premium in there because of Ohtani’s stature — it’s actually hard to find a player to spend that much on — so let’s say they would have reallocated $40 million in terms of their luxury tax calculation to other resources. If we stick with the old standard of an average win purchased in free agency being valued at $8 million, we can estimate that the production from Dodgers’ Plan B player(s) would have been worth about five wins per season over the last two campaigns.

Per Baseball Reference, Ohtani produced 9.2 bWAR in 2024 for his work as a DH and 7.7 in 2025 for his pitching and hitting. So we’re going to reduce the Dodgers’ baseline by 4.2 wins in 2024 and 2.7 in 2025. My end-of-season simple power rating for L.A. in 2024 was 95.9, so we’ll take that down to 91.7. In 2025, I had them at 92.9, so we’re down to 90.2. These won’t be the precise numbers used in the simulations, as we’ve got to make sure the distribution of wins across the majors totals up to the 2,430 wins at stake in a big league season, but these numbers are close.

Blue Jays: The Toronto adjustment is a little more complicated in that we actually know what they did after they failed to land Ohtani. What we don’t know is what moves would not have occurred had they signed him, or the contract he ultimately would have gotten from Toronto. Let’s start with the financial part.

Luckily, we had Jeff Passan and Alden Gonzalez on the case, so we know that Ohtani reportedly presented other teams, including the Blue Jays, with the same terms he gave to the Dodgers and that Toronto agreed to them. So we can use that same $46 million as Toronto’s CBT number on the Jays’ balance sheet, though the ramifications for the Jays in that regard are different because of their lower overall payroll.

After Ohtani signed with the Dodgers, the Blue Jays signed three veteran free agent hitters: Isiah Kiner-Falefa (two years, $15 million), Kevin Kiermaier (one year, $10.5 million) and Justin Turner (one year, $13 million). The 2024 payout for those three was a combined $38.5 million, and it would take some additional belt tightening to get to Ohtani’s salary. The Jays’ Opening Day payroll was about $13 million over the first CBT threshold and $7 million below the second. So they could ax this trio, drop Ohtani into the payroll, and still likely stay under the second threshold, if that was a goal.

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Kiner-Falefa, Kiermaier and Turner posted a combined 4.5 bWAR between them, and frankly, reconfiguring the Toronto depth chart to absorb their absences isn’t that hard. The difference between their production and Ohtani’s is a hefty 4.7 bWAR, so we’ll add that to Toronto’s 2024 baseline. Alas, the Jays weren’t very good in 2024, so adding that figure to their end-of-season power ranking (70.9) takes them up to only 75.6.

Working Ohtani’s $46 million onto Toronto’s 2025 payroll is more challenging. According to Cot’s, Toronto’s end-of-season CBT payroll was $28 million over the first threshold and $8 million over the second. Certainly, the Blue Jays would not have signed Anthony Santander if they had Ohtani in hand and, perhaps, knowing Ohtani could also pitch for them in 2025, perhaps they would not have sprung for Max Scherzer.

Even so, because Santander’s deal involved so much deferred money, we’re still talking about a tax payroll that’s something like another $17 million higher even after we drop Scherzer and Santander. But, hey, it’s not our money, so let’s do it. For the sake of this exercise, we won’t have Toronto pursue Sasaki after Ohtani becomes a Blue Jay.

There are other possible consequences that, for now, we’ll ignore. First of all, would the Blue Jays have been able to be as aggressive in extending Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a long-term deal if they knew Ohtani had the DH spot locked up for the next decade? Would George Springer’s bounce-back season been harmed by having to spend more time in the field? Worth thinking about.

But we’ll stick with the straightforward adjustments. Together, Scherzer (0.2 bWAR) and Santander (minus-1.0) were a net drag on the Blue Jays’ bottom line. Replacing them with Ohtani is a huge gain, though we’re cheating a bit by not doing more of a playing time redistribution. Scherzer was limited to 85 innings during the season, but Ohtani logged only 47. But Ohtani rolled up 727 plate appearances, dwarfing Santander’s 221. In other words, Ohtani would have also usurped at-bats from players such as Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger and Davis Schneider, just to start.

We’ll keep it simple and just add Ohtani’s 7.7 2025 bWAR to the Blue Jays’ bottom line. Toronto’s power rating was 90.1 at the end of the season, so we’re at an elite 97.8. Now we’re getting somewhere.

Let’s sim that out and see what happens.

2024: The actual Blue Jays went 74-88 with a run differential that suggested their record was in lockstep with their quality of play. The true talent level of the team was better than that, with or without Ohtani. Toronto won 89 games in 2023 and made the postseason. They’re in the World Series this year. Sometimes decent teams have bad seasons — take heart, Orioles fans! — and that was Toronto in 2024.

With Ohtani on board in our what-if world, the Blue Jays won the World Series in just three of 10,000 simulations. Maybe having Ohtani’s historic production on the roster would have boosted the rest of the squad, but we can’t know that for sure. They did make the playoffs about 7% of the time, so it was less hopeless than real life. Still, even with Ohtani, the 2024 Jays would have entered that offseason believing they had work to do.

As for the Dodgers, there is nowhere to go but down since, after all, they won the World Series. In the no-Ohtani world, the Dodgers’ reduced baseline got them into the playoffs in 73% of the sims. That seems low, but dropping them to a 90-win team or so puts them on a crowded tier in the big league landscape. The Dodgers still made the World Series 13% of the time and won the title 7% of the time, behind the now-heavily-favored Yankees (24%), Phillies and Astros (both 8%).

Finally, in our 10,000 resimulations of the 2024 season, the Dodgers played the Blue Jays in the World Series four times. Los Angeles won all four showdowns.

2025:One factor is Ohtani’s innings workload as it might have been for Toronto. We’re leaving his 7.7 bWAR as is, but you have to think the Blue Jays might have been somewhat more aggressive in ramping up his innings count, simply because they lack the ridiculous depth of the Dodgers’ staff. Still, adding his two-way punch to the roster and performance of the 2025 Blue Jays gives Toronto easily the top-rated baseline in our resimulated campaign.

That shows up in the end-of-season probabilities and would render Toronto as a solid favorite if it did end up meeting the Ohtani-less Dodgers in the World Series. Because L.A.’s regular season was, for the Dodgers, a bit lackluster, losing Ohtani doesn’t really move them down a tier as it did in the 2024 reimagining. But it certainly doesn’t help.

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We can do a little bit more in direct comparison with the current season. The Blue Jays made the postseason in 92% of the simulations. In the actual postseason, Toronto started off with an 11% shot at winning it all, using this system of power rankings, behind Milwaukee and New York. With Ohtani, they won an MLB-high 15% of the simulations. Meanwhile, the Dodgers made the playoffs 71% of the time, similar to the 2024 resimulation, and won the Series around 6% of the time.

This method isn’t entirely fair to the 2025 Dodgers, whose true talent level is well above what they did in the regular season. That would be better reflected if I had used projections rather than the actual final standings. But the Dodgers did what they did, so don’t blame me. We’re seeing that true talent level in action this October.

As you expect, a Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series cropped up way more often in the 2025 sims — 277 times, altogether. In those matchups, the Blue Jays went 171-106 (61.7%). This is roughly the polar opposite of most of the Dodgers-favored World Series odds that are circulating right now. In my system, the reversal is almost exact: The Dodgers are winning 60.9% of the sims in most post-LCS analysis.

So if you want to know how different a Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series would look had Shohei been on that plane, that’s the bottom line: Exactly the opposite.

Five moves the Dodgers could have made if they didn’t land Ohtani

Could third baseman Matt Chapman have been part of the Dodgers’ Plan B had they missed out on Ohtani? Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

But what if Ohtani had been on that plane? While Brad’s simulations are best served by not playing the what-if game, we know L.A. would have done something — and knowing the Dodgers, likely something big. What might the Dodgers’ 2024-25 offseason have looked like without Ohtani? Where might that money have gone?

In our alternate universe, we have to remember how the 2023 season ended for the Dodgers: with the Diamondbacks sweeping the Dodgers in the NLDS after the Dodgers started an injured Clayton Kershaw (who got one out and allowed six runs); started Bobby Miller (who got five outs and allowed three runs); and started Lance Lynn (who had led the majors with 44 home runs allowed, got eight outs and allowed four home runs in the third inning).

The focus was on starting pitching, which is why after signing Ohtani the Dodgers traded for Tyler Glasnow and then signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Without Ohtani, however, here are five other moves that would have made sense (all these players were involved in transactions that happened after Dec. 9, 2024):

1. Trade for Dylan Cease

What really happened: The Padres acquired Cease from the Chicago White Sox

One reason the Dodgers signed Ohtani and Yamamoto was they were admittedly getting tired of trading prospects. Until this 2023-24 offseason, they had rarely dipped into the big-money free agency in the Andrew Friedman era (Freddie Freeman and Trevor Bauer had been the only $100 million free agents the Dodgers had signed).

They might have made an exception to trade for Cease. He’s the kind of pitcher the Dodgers love, with a big power arm. More importantly, coming off all the Dodgers’ injuries in 2023, Cease had made 32 starts in 2021, 32 in 2022 and 33 in 2023. Corbin Burnes was also traded after Ohtani had signed, but Cease had two years of control left versus just one for Burnes. Chris Sale also went from the Boston Red Sox to the Atlanta Braves and went on to win the Cy Young Award, but his proneness to injury would have scared off the Dodgers.

2. Sign Blake Snell — a year early

What really happened: Snell signed with the Giants for two years, $62 million

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Snell was coming off a Cy Young Award with the Padres in 2023, his second, and was looking for a mega-contract. ESPN predicted six years and $150 million; MLB Trade Rumors predicted seven years and $200 million. The Philadelphia Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Dodgers were considered the favorites to sign him, with many other teams in the mix.

That big offer never arrived, with teams worried about Snell’s inconsistency. His free agency lingered deep into spring training until he finally signed with the Giants just 10 days before the start of the season. His deal included an opt-out, which he exercised after a scintillating stretch run with the Giants (1.23 ERA over his final 14 starts). This time, the Dodgers decided they wanted him, and they signed him after the 2024 season.

3. Sign Josh Hader

What really happened: Hader signed with the Houston Astros for five years, $95 million

Might the Dodgers have gone after a reliever? The bullpen had been pretty good in 2023, ranking third in the majors in ERA, with Evan Phillips (2.05 ERA, 24 saves) and Brusdar Graterol (1.20 ERA, seven saves) leading the way. But the Dodgers had also relied on castoffs such as Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly and Shelby Miller, so you could argue that an elite closer like Hader was a good fit. Plus, as the Dodgers showed in the 2024-25 offseason after spending $72 million on Tanner Scott, they are willing to spend big money on a closer.

4. Sign Jung Hoo Lee

What really happened: Lee signed with Giants for six years, $113 million

Lee was one of the top outfielders available in free agency, a star in Korea who projected as a leadoff hitter with a high average and good defense in center field. The Dodgers’ outfield in 2023 included David Peralta, who was 35, and James Outman, who had kind of a fluky good rookie season. The Dodgers did end up signing Teoscar Hernandez to a one-year deal, but when Mookie Betts initially moved to shortstop and Outman predictably floundered, they were playing Jason Heyward and had to trade for Tommy Edman. Lee would have been a fit for center field, although he hasn’t been as good as expected with the Giants, who overpaid by some $40 million-$50 million compared with the initial predictions, so maybe the Dodgers dodged a bad signing here.

5. Sign Matt Chapman

What really happened: Chapman signed with Giants for three years, $54 million

Max Muncy was coming off a 36-homer season in 2023, but he had hit .196 in 2022 and .212 in 2023. Plus, there is no Ohtani here, so the Dodgers could have signed Chapman and moved Muncy to the DH role or maybe even to second base, where Muncy had played a lot from 2019 to 2022 and was a position that had been a problem for the Dodgers in 2023 (Miguel Vargas started the most games there, with Betts eventually starting by the end of the season).

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Ohtani and the Blue Jays will be forever tied after what happened in December 2023. Some of the heartache and hostility has faded, but Ohtani has stuck to the Blue Jays. This organization nearly landed the biggest star in baseball history, only to come up painfully short to the Dodgers. During Ohtaniâ€s first trip back to Toronto in 2024, John Schneider was asked about what had just happened that winter between his team and Ohtani. He smiled, took a moment to think and let a detail sneak out.

“If anything, just tell him we want our Blue Jays hat back that he took with him after our meeting,†Schneider said.

Ohtani took more than a hat from that meeting. This is where the heartbreak lives. The Blue Jays didnâ€t just float an offer to Ohtani; they put on a full-court press, involving every corner of the organization as they went stride-for-stride financially with the Dodgers, who eventually signed Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million deal.

The drama had built leading into the 2023 Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, but they finally boiled over on Dec. 4. General manager Ross Atkins was supposed to meet with the media that day in a suite, but moments prior, that session pivoted to a Zoom call. Atkins sat on that call, wearing a black jacket and white shirt in front of a blank white wall, refusing to admit where he was or what he was doing. It was unforgettable theatre, but it was necessary.

Atkins, Schneider, president Mark Shapiro and chairman Edward Rogers were all at the Blue Jays†complex in Dunedin, Fla., courting Ohtani.

The complex was empty that day. This had to happen with complete secrecy. Younger players were told that there was a Rogers ownership meeting that day while some big leaguers, understanding what was happening, zipped their mouths shut and nodded along. Schneider and the Blue Jays†executives stood in a room overlooking the empty parking lot, watching for the black SUV to pull in.

“It was like the president was coming. Seriously,†Schneider said in 2024.

Ohtani walked every inch of the complex that day. At one point, he froze in front of a TV when he saw two Blue Jays playing catch. Sensing his worry that these players were on the complex grounds, the Blue Jays quickly explained to Ohtani that they were across town at TD Ballpark, the clubâ€s spring home. The Blue Jays†entire world belonged to Ohtani then.

One of the last stops on the tour was the Spring Training clubhouse. Inside were lockers set up for Ohtani with jerseys, workout gear and all of his favorite accessories, right down to the finest details. Surely, someone in the organization was tasked with finding out whether Ohtani likes pulp in his orange juice or how he takes his coffee. It was all right in front of Ohtani.

Then, an image those involved will never forget. Ohtani packed up the lockers and took the bags with him. No one had expected this. As he walked back to their SUV, they saw one more thing. It was Ohtaniâ€s dog, Decoy, running behind him wearing the Canadian dog jacket the Blue Jays had bought for him.

This is how close it was. For all of the drama — from the flight Ohtani was never on to the eventual Instagram post from Ohtani that broke a nationâ€s heart — itâ€s important to remember just how close this was, just how real this was. The Blue Jays — with their aggressive, admirable pursuit — nearly landed Shohei Ohtani.

What would that world have looked like? Even less than two years removed, itâ€s always felt like a fork in the road for the Blue Jays, the life they could have had running next to the life they live. Would Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still have signed a $500 million extension? Would they have spent even bigger around Ohtani?

Those roads run closer to one another than we ever could have dreamed.

The Blue Jays have been reborn. Their 2024 season, fresh off the cruel winter spent pursuing Ohtani, felt so lifeless. This organization is alive again, though. Thereâ€s no replacing Ohtani, the most uniquely gifted baseball player to ever walk this earth, but this is not the NBA. This is not Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman versus Guerrero, George Springer and Bo Bichette. This World Series is a 26-man roster versus a 26-man roster, and as we see every October, stars will emerge who we never saw coming.

The Dodgers are a powerhouse. Even with the Blue Jays winning the American League as its No. 1 seed, this will be advertised as David versus Goliath, the upstart feel-good bunch of Canadians against the almighty Dodgers, who never run out of money or talent. It will be advertised as the Blue Jays versus Shohei Ohtani.

“Never count us out. Weâ€re going to do everything in our power to try to not make baseball evil again,†Schneider said, laughing after the Game 7 ALCS win. “We know theyâ€re a great team. I know weâ€re a great team.â€

Ohtani got away once. For a time, it felt like that wound would always be there, whether those involved wanted to admit it or not. Baseball has given the Blue Jays another chance, though. For two years, this organization couldnâ€t escape the ties to Ohtani, couldnâ€t escape the label of always finishing second.

Once again, theyâ€ve found him. Once again, Ohtani is right in front of the Blue Jays.

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In tossing six scoreless innings and hitting about 1,430 feet of home runs, Shohei Ohtani put up probably the most unique performance in postseason history Friday in NLCS Game 5 against the Brewers. It was perhaps the most spectacular athletic performance ever to take place on a baseball field. Maybe even any sort of field. But was it the greatest individual performance in major league postseason history?

That’s a difficult question, one that many would argue hinges on context. Obviously, starring in Game 4 of the NLCS with a 3-0 series lead isn’t the same as Game 7 of World Series.

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But what is it up against? Here’s a rundown of perhaps the top 10 single-game performances in MLB postseason history.

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Best Individual MLB Postseason Performances

Honorable Mention

1963 World Series Game 1: Sandy Koufax fans 15 Yankees

Koufax threw two shutouts in the 1965 World Series, including one in Game 7 to finish off the Twins. Still, perhaps even more impressive was his two-game set in a sweep of the Yankees in the 1963 World Series. Koufax outdueled Whitey Ford twice in 5-2 and 2-1 victories, and his 15 strikeouts in Game 1 set a postseason record that has only since been exceeded twice, including once by…

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Honorable Mention

1968 World Series Game 1: Bob Gibsonâ€s 17-K shutout

Fairly or not, Gibsonâ€s Game 7 loss keeps the Game 1 performance out of the top 10 here. Prior to that, he outdueled 1968 AL Cy Young winner Denny McLain twice in 4-0 and 10-1 complete-game victories. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, McLain came back out and won Game 6 and Mickey Lolich, working on two days†rest after winning Game 5, got the better of Gibson as the Tigers won Game 7 by a 4-1 score.

Honorable Mention

2022 ALDS Game 1: Yordan Alvarez walks it off in ninth

In all of postseason history, two individual performances have amounted to at least a 1.0 Win Probability Added, which is a measure of how each event in a game changed win expectancy (a first-inning homer might increase a team’s chances of winning from 50 to 60 percent, which would be a 0.1 win expectancy, while Kirk Gibson’s famous walkoff homer in the 1988 World Series was worth 0.87). The first of those was pulled off by Babe Ruth the pitcher, who allowed one run over 14 innings to win Game 2 of the 1916 World Series for the Red Sox. The second was by Alvarez, who had already driven in two runs against the Mariners when he hit a three-run homer off Paul Sewald with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Astros a 7-5 win. That changed the Astros’ win expectancy from nine percent to 100. But, of course, it was Game 1 of the ALDS.

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Honorable Mention

2010 NLDS Game 1: Roy Halladayâ€s no-hitter in postseason debut

The Blue Jays never reached the playoffs in Halladayâ€s 12 seasons in Toronto, so the 33-year-old, who was about to win his second Cy Young Award in his first season with the Phillies, was making his postseason debut when he faced the Reds to start the 2010 NLDS. What followed was his second no-hitter of the year (the first was also a perfect game), as he allowed just a single walk to the Reds.

10) 1921 World Series Game 8: Art Nehf shuts out Yankees

Yes, Game 8, as this was the fourth and final World Series to use a best-of-nine format. The New York Giants†starter, Nehf, was matched up with Waite Hoyt for the third time after losing Game 2 by a 3-0 score and game 5 by a 3-1 margin. This time, Nehf got the better of the future Hall of Famer in a 1-0 game, ending the series with the Giants winning 5-3. It helped a bit that Babe Ruth was limited to a pinch-hitting appearance by a bad knee.

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9) 1999 ALDS Game 5: Troy Oâ€Leary & Pedro Martinez finish off Cleveland

Pick either. After losing the first two games of the best-of-five series, the Red Sox stormed back to take Games 3 and 4 by 9-3 and 23-7 margins. Game 5 was setting up as another shootout, with Cleveland leading 8-7 after three in spite of Oâ€Learyâ€s grand slam in the third. Thatâ€s when Martinez, who had been forced to leave Game 1 with a shoulder problem, took over. He pitched six hitless innings with eight strikeouts, and Oâ€Leary hit a second homer, a three-run shot, to break an 8-8 tie in the seventh. The seven RBI from Oâ€Leary is still tied for the postseason record.

8) 1967 World Series Game 7: Bob Gibson goes distance, homers in win

Gibson didn’t really need to homer off Boston’s Jim Lonborg, who was also going for third win of the World Series, to pull off the Game 7 victory here, but it was the cherry on top. Gibson won Games 1, 4 and 7 in the series, allowing a total of three runs in his three complete games.

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7) 1977 World Series Game 6: Reggie Jackson hits three home runs

With the Yankees trying to close out the Dodgers, the newly coined “Mr. October†made sure the nickname would stick, homering on all three of his swings in an 8-4 win. Jackson walked in his first plate appearance and scored on a homer from Chris Chambliss. He then homered in the fourth, fifth and eighth, plating a total of five runs in the 8-4 victory.

6) 1956 World Series Game 5: Don Larsenâ€s perfect game

Larsen had allowed nine runs — five earned — over 5 2/3 innings in two career postseason appearances for the Yankees when he suddenly turned in one of the most famous performances of all-time in the 1956 World Series, pitching a perfect game in a 2-0 win over the Dodgers. Facing a lineup loaded with five future Hall of Famers, he struck out seven while going 27 up and 27 down. It was the only ever postseason no-hitter until Halladayâ€s in the 2010 NLCS.

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5) 1962 World Series Game 7: Ralph Terry downs Giants in Game 7

Mickey Mantle versus Willie Mays turned out to be a dud, as both superstars struggled in the second and final World Series matchup (both were rookies when the Yankees and Giants previously met in 1951). Terry, in his one and only All-Star campaign, turned out to be the difference maker. After taking a tough 2-0 loss in Game 2, he went the distance in a 5-3 victory in Game 5 and then hurled a shutout in Game 7, with Willie McCovey lining out to second baseman Bill Richardson to end a 1-0 game.

4) 2011 World Series Game 6: David Freese ties it, wins it against Rangers

A rather anonymous regular until this point, Freese had already put together a whopper of a postseason by the time the Cardinals-Rangers World Series got to Game 6. He went 0-for-3 with a walk in his first four plate appearances that night, but he had a two-run triple over Nelson Cruzâ€s head to tie game in the ninth and then a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 11th to send the series to Game 7. He had a two-run double in that one, too, as the Cardinals won the championship. In all, he hit .397 with five homers, eight doubles and 21 RBI in 18 postseason games.

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3) 2025 NLCS Game 4: Shohei Ohtani homers three times, strikes out 10

Could anyone else do what Ohtani did in finishing off the Brewers? No, not a chance. He hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium and touched 100 mph on the radar gun twice, throwing the 11 hardest pitches of the game. Ohtaniâ€s three-homer game was the 13th in postseason history, and he struck out 10 over six scoreless innings in the 5-1 victory. Ranking his performance on a list like this just comes down to how much one wants to weigh leverage. If Ohtani had been mediocre with a 3-0 series lead in the NLCS, the Dodgers still might have won the game and almost certainly would have won the series. Thatâ€s not the case with most of these other candidates.

2) 2014 World Series Game 7: Madison Bumgarner closes out stellar series

About the closest anyone has ever come to winning a World Series by himself, Bumgarner entered Game 7 against the Royals having already pitched seven innings of one-run ball in Game 1 and a complete-game shutout in Game 5. Going into Game 7, it was figured that he might have one or two innings in him on two-days rest, but he took the ball to begin the fifth for the Giants and never gave it up, throwing five scoreless innings to finish off a 3-2 victory.

1) 1991 World Series Game 7: Jack Morris outlasts John Smoltz in 1-0 win

The performance that made him a Hall of Famer. Morris, in his lone year with the Twins, won Game 1 against the Braves and then took a no-decision in his first matchup with Smoltz in Game 4, which Atlanta went on to win. Game 7 saw both pitchers work on three days†rest, and Smoltz was incredible for 7 1/3 innings in the scoreless duel. Morris, meanwhile, kept plugging along, throwing 10 scoreless innings before Gene Larkin singled in Dan Gladden to give the Twins the title. No one since has pitched more than nine innings in a postseason game.

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In the opening moments of a new film called “Diamond Diplomacy,†Shohei Ohtani holds the ball and Mike Trout holds a bat. These are the dramatic final moments of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

The film puts those moments on pause to share the long and complex relationship between the United States and Japan through the prism of baseball, and through the stories of four Japanese players — Ohtani included — and their journeys to the major leagues.

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Baseball has been a national pastime in both nations for more than a century. A Japanese publishing magnate sponsored a 1934 barnstorming tour led by Babe Ruth. Under former owners Walter and Peter Oâ€Malley, the Dodgers were at the forefront of tours to Japan and elsewhere.

In 1946, however, amid the aftermath of World War II, the United States government funded a tour by the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. Director Yuriko Gamo Romer features archival footage from that tour prominently in her film.

“I thought it was remarkable,†she said, “that the U.S. government decided, ‘Oh, we should send a baseball team to Japan to help repair relations and for goodwill.†â€

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On the home front, Romer shows how Ruth barnstormed Central California in 1927, a decade and a half before the U.S. government forced citizens of Japanese ancestry into internment camps there. Teams and leagues sprouted within the camps, an arrangement described by one player as “baseball behind barbed wire.â€

The film also relates how, even after World War II ended, Japanese Americans were often unwelcome in their old neighborhoods, and Japanese baseball leagues sprung up like the Negro Leagues.

In 1964, the San Francisco Giants made pitcher Masanori Murakami the first Japanese player in Major League Baseball, but he yielded to pressure to return to his homeland two years later.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Masanori Murakami, shown on the a pro baseball field in 1964, was the first Japanese athlete to play in Major League Baseball. (Associated Press)

In 1995, when pitcher Hideo Nomo signed with the Dodgers, he had to retire from Japanese baseball to do so. (The film contains footage of legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda teaching Nomo to say, “I bleed Dodger blue.â€)

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Now, star Japanese players regularly join the majors. In that 2023 WBC, as the film shows at its end, Ohtani left his first big imprint on the international game by striking out Trout to deliver victory to Japan over the United States.

On Friday, Ohtani powered the Dodgers into the World Series with perhaps the greatest game by any player in major league history.

In previous generations, author Robert Whiting says in the film, hardly any American could name a prominent Japanese figure, in baseball or otherwise. Today, Ohtaniâ€s jersey is baseballâ€s best seller, and he is a cultural icon on and off the field, here and in Japan.

Fans cheer as Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani hits his third home run during Game 4 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday at Dodger Stadium. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“Suddenly, a Japanese face is the face of Major League Baseball in the United States,†Romer said. “People here can buy bottles of cold Japanese tea that have Shoheiâ€s face on it.

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“I know people who donâ€t care about baseball one iota and theyâ€re like, ‘oh, yeah, I know who that is.’â€

“Diamond Diplomacy†will show on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Newport Beach Film Festival. For more information, visit newportbeachfilmfest.com.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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One fan is hoping to cash in on a part of Shohei Ohtani’s incredible performance during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

Ohtani launched three home runs in the 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, which propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series with the NLCS sweep. Video showed David Flores ended up with the third home run ball, and he said he plans on selling it.

“I have a 12-year-old son and his college is in his future,” Flores said, per Josh Peter of USA Today.

He also said, “It ricocheted to me and I just caught it like a baby and I squeezed it nice and tight, and it just happened that I stayed calm and I remained calm.”

Peter noted Carlo Mendoza said he found Ohtani’s second homer in bushes after it went over the right-center field pavilion roof, although there is no video to confirm as much. Steve Brener, who is in the Dodgers’ public relations department, “expressed skepticism about Mendoza’s claim,” per Peter.

Mendoza said he prefers to give the ball back to Ohtani.

The fate of the first home-run ball is unknown at this time.

Hitting three monster home runs in front of a raucous home crowd to lead the team to a second straight World Series would be an incredible performance on its own. But Ohtani also started the game on the mound as a pitcher.

All he did in that role was strike out 10 and allow two hits in six scoreless innings of work. It was another brilliant starting pitching performance for the Dodgers in the series after Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow impressed in the first three games.

Given what was at stake and the overall showing, it was arguably the most memorable game of Ohtani’s legendary career. It fully highlighted how unique of a player he is across all sports as he single-handedly took over the victory in multiple ways.

A souvenir from that performance could certainly be worth plenty of money, and Flores is hoping to receive the windfall.

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One fan is hoping to cash in on a part of Shohei Ohtani’s incredible performance during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

Ohtani launched three home runs in the 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, which propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series with the NLCS sweep. Video showed David Flores ended up with the third home run ball, and he said he plans on selling it.

“I have a 12-year-old son and his college is in his future,” Flores said, per Josh Peter of USA Today.

He also said, “It ricocheted to me and I just caught it like a baby and I squeezed it nice and tight, and it just happened that I stayed calm and I remained calm.”

Peter noted Carlo Mendoza said he found Ohtani’s second homer in bushes after it went over the right-center field pavilion roof, although there is no video to confirm as much. Steve Brener, who is in the Dodgers’ public relations department, “expressed skepticism about Mendoza’s claim,” per Peter.

Mendoza said he prefers to give the ball back to Ohtani.

The fate of the first home-run ball is unknown at this time.

Hitting three monster home runs in front of a raucous home crowd to lead the team to a second straight World Series would be an incredible performance on its own. But Ohtani also started the game on the mound as a pitcher.

All he did in that role was strike out 10 and allow two hits in six scoreless innings of work. It was another brilliant starting pitching performance for the Dodgers in the series after Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow impressed in the first three games.

Given what was at stake and the overall showing, it was arguably the most memorable game of Ohtani’s legendary career. It fully highlighted how unique of a player he is across all sports as he single-handedly took over the victory in multiple ways.

A souvenir from that performance could certainly be worth plenty of money, and Flores is hoping to receive the windfall.

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There has never been an MLB player like Shohei Ohtani, and he just authored his masterpiece — “The Ohtani Game” — on Friday in Game 4 of the NLCS.

Facing a Milwaukee Brewers team that held the best record in MLB during the regular season, Ohtani posted three mammoth homers in a 3-for-3 night at the plate and struck out 10 in six-plus scoreless innings on the mound, almost single-handedly pushing the Dodgers to a 5-1 win that ended a series sweep.

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He had the three hardest-hit balls of the game, and the 11 hardest-thrown pitches. He had the Dodger Stadium fans screaming. He had his teammates ranging from stunned silence to hilarious guffawing. He had his manager plotting to “ruin baseball.” He had media scrambling to figure out what you even say when a man with three MVP awards (soon to be four), a World Series ring and MLB’s only 50-50 season surpasses himself.

He also had Brewers manager Pat Murphy tipping his cap in defeat. As the Dodgers received the Warren C. Giles Trophy and Ohtani received his well-deserved NLCS MVP Award, Murphy described the game as “maybe the best individual performance ever in a postseason game.”

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And that somehow may be underselling it. We might have just watched the greatest performance, bar none, in the history of baseball. That’s a heavy title, though, so let’s go through Ohtani’s competition.

Shohei Ohtani’s NLCS Game 4 might never be topped. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

We should spell out that we’re specifically talking about entire games here rather than one huge moment, and are trying to not include performances where there seems to be a clear upgrade. So Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series won’t be here, nor will, say, a postseason no-hitter be here when there’s already a postseason perfect game.

On that note …

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Don Larsen’s perfect game

The only perfect game ever thrown in the postseason, and it happened in a pivotal Game 5 that helped push the New York Yankees to a seven-game win over the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 Fall Classic.

Larsen struck out seven and needed only 97 pitches to get all 27 outs against a Dodgers lineup that featured five future Hall of Famers in Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella. Oh, and he posted a sacrifice bunt that helped score the Yankees’ second run in a 2-0 win.

Almost by definition, it’s hard to imagine a better performance on the game’s biggest stage. If you still want to call this the greatest single-game performance in MLB history, we won’t stop you.

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Sandy Koufax’s Game 7 triumph

The Dodgers legend earned a spot on this list through pure perseverance.

At first glance, a 10-strikeout, three-hit shutout in Game 7 of the 1965 World Series is an incredible achievement. But also consider that Koufax was pitching on two days’ rest after throwing another shutout in Game 5. Consider that Koufax had invited immense scrutiny by sitting out Game 1 of the series because it was Yom Kippur. Consider that Koufax didn’t have his legendary curveball working in that game, so he blew away the Minnesota Twins with just his fastball.

And consider that Koufax did it a year after being diagnosed with traumatic arthritis in his pitching arm, which caused him to pitch through unimaginable pain for the final two legendary seasons of his career.

“Greatness” is an amorphous concept. It can be taken to mean anything from statistical production to shows of character, but when you take in just how much Koufax had going against him, you can’t deny there isn’t some definition of greatness where this game is on top.

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Bob Gibson’s 17-strikeout shutout

The St. Louis Cardinals ace was so dominant in 1968 that baseball lowered the mound, lest the “Year of the Pitcher” have repeats. And Game 1 of that year’s World Series was his apex of dominance. His 17 strikeouts are a postseason record that still stands, and it was in a duel with Denny McLain, who is likely to be the last 30-game winner in MLB history.

We can also add an honorable mention to Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.

And that pretty much ends the postseason competition for Ohtani. There have been some incredible, clutch offensive performances, but the basic nature of baseball makes it hard to surpass the greatest pitching performances as a hitter. Unless you happen to be doing both at the same time, like Ohtani just did.

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Rick Wise’s 2-HR no-hitter

Moving onto the regular season, we have the one guy who can probably say he did more for his team in a game than Ohtani did for the Dodgers in Game 4.

Two days ago, the question “What would you rather your pitcher do, hit three homers and throw six scoreless innings or hit two homers while throwing a no-hitter?” would sound ludicrous. It’s now very real, as Wise did the latter against the Cincinnati Reds in their Big Red Machine era.

The Philadelphia Phillies right-hander posted only three strikeouts on the mound, but a no-hitter is a no-hitter. There have actually been four no-hitters with a home run, but Wise is the only one to go deep multiple times.

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So that can go on the vision board for Ohtani.

That other Shohei Ohtani game

Remember last year, when Ohtani hit three home runs and stole two bases to not only become the first 50-50 player in MLB history, but reach 51-51 in the same game? Isn’t it wild how he seems to have one-upped that?

In total, Ohtani went 6-for-6 with 3 homers, 2 doubles, 2 steals, 4 runs scored and 10 RBI. Had he successfully stretched a double into a triple in the third inning, it would also have been a cycle. Obviously, hitting and pitching at an elite level is the most impressive thing Ohtani does, but it can’t be forgotten that he just decided to start stealing bases in 2024 and ended up doing this:

Other regular-season records

For the remaining games, take your pick.

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There have been 21 four-homer games, four 20-strikeout games (five if you count Randy Johnson, which you probably should in this case) and 21 perfect games. Some of those that stand out:

• Max Scherzer’s 17-strikeout no-hitter, the second-highest game score on record

• Koufax and Matt Cain each reaching 14 strikeouts in their perfect games, the most ever in a perfecto

As far as we can tell, that is pretty much the full list of games that could be considered alongside Ohtani.

Your definition of greatness is ultimately up to you. If you care about pure achievement, you might take Larsen. If you care about personal narrative, you might take Koufax. If you care about numbers going up more than the postseason, any of the above games could be your pick.

But to combine it all in a two-way spectacle beyond precedent, to send his team to the World Series, when baseball has never been played at a higher level, well, it makes a convincing case that we just watched the greatest day at the office in the history of the sport.

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Wow, what a week in sports. USC defeats Michigan, a Dodger pitches a complete game for the first time in the postseason since 2004 and they sweep the Brewers to go to the World Series for the second consecutive year after being 0-6 against Milwaukee during the regular season. Perhaps Michael Conforto will be added to the roster and win MVP in the World Series.

Jeff Hershow
Woodland Hills

While basically sleepwalking through the first three games of the NLCS, Shohei Ohtani saves his best for last. He goes “Hollywood†and produces the single greatest performance in MLB history as the final curtain comes down on the Milwaukee Brewers and extends the Dodgers’ magical journey to repeat as World Series champions.

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Stay tuned for the sequel!

Rick Solomon
Lake Balboa

Itâ€s a bird, itâ€s a plane … no, itâ€s superhuman Shohei! He pitches a shutout, strikes out 10, and hits three tape-measure home runs. Wow!

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

In the history of Major League Baseball, has there ever been a player like Shohei Ohtani? I don’t think so. Shohei is the best ever. Enough said.

Chris Sorce
Fountain Valley

Now that the Dodgers have effortlessly powered their way back into the World Series, itâ€s quite obvious that $400 million actually does buy what it used to!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

At last, the second coming of the Dodgers has happened. We’ve been waiting for it and hoping for it, and now it’s here. Great offense, great defense and superb pitching. Our new chant should be “all the way L.A., all the way.”

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Cheryl Creek
Anaheim

Statistically speaking, there is a case to be made in comparing the postseason accomplishments of Sandy Koufax and Blake Snell. From a historical perspective, there is no comparison.

Koufax is a legendary lifetime Dodger who pitched until he physically was no longer able to do so. Snell famously refused to take the ball in his last Giants start to save himself for a free agency money windfall.

Bill Waxman
Simi Valley

Stop the presses! The world is still spinning on its axis! Holy Toledo, Dave Roberts finally figured out a starting pitcher’s arm doesn’t fall off after 100 pitches. Too bad he didn’t come to that revelation during Blake Snell’s Game 1 performance, but better late than never as the saying goes.

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Ken Blake
Brea

Money men

For many of us (back here in the Heartland), Sal Frelickâ€s miraculous play in Game 1 represents the “never give up†spirit of the Brewers. You can have all the money in world, but it cannot buy that type of magic. And if the Dodgers do defeat the Brewers, then MLB must ask themselves whether or not limitless money should be allowed to kill that type of team spirit.

If the Dodgers do indeed roll on, then for another minute we will be awestruck by the relentless, money-fueled, dancing Dodger machine. However after a few more moments of watching the smug glow from Hollywood, many of us (back here in the heartland) will just be turning it off!

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Ken Kraus
Georgetown, Texas

Quality stuff

I just finished reading the in-depth piece on Roki Sasaki by Jack Harris and all I can say is WOW! I get sports news from many sources but Los Angeles Times beats everything else, no contest. Learning about all the behind-the-scenes machinations that brought Sasaki from an injured, defeated rookie to the postseason MVP and Dodgers’ season savior was fascinating and gives me a deeper appreciation for the struggles he faces. Keep up the great work: Dodgers, Sasaki, and L.A. Times!!!

Cheryl Norris
Simi Valley

End of the line?

Very disappointing to read about the athletic director at UCLA unaware of what true leadership is, and how best to apply it, in support of a team not giving up and willing to fight the remainder of this season.

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Coaches are being terminated due to mismanagement of teams, so why not the Bruins’ AD?

J.R. Flores
Cypress

Time to punt

Coach Sean McVay’s lack of urgency with the Rams’ kicking game is beyond frustrating. The kicker and the special teams coach should have been fired after the Eagles game. Instead these problems, which have lingered since last season, are still here. The Rams need to have a kicking game they can depend on for points. With a good chance to make the playoffs, the time to make a change is now.

Mike Gamboa
Buena Park

The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.

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Email: sports@latimes.com

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Shohei Ohtani ended his playoff slump in spectacular fashion on Friday night, hitting three homers and striking out 10 in six innings in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers back to the World Series with a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

As the Dodgers are trending toward becoming a dynasty, Mookie Betts invoked Michael Jordan’s name to describe Ohtani’s historic performance on Friday night.

“It’s like we’re the Chicago Bulls,” Betts told reporters after the game, “and he’s Michael Jordan.”

The Jordan comparison might actually be underselling how amazing Ohtani’s feat in this game was. His stat line is one that has never been accomplished in the history of Major League Baseball.

Even more fitting is Ohtani did that at the same time his postseason struggles were starting to draw scrutiny. He did have a very un-Ohtani-like slash line of .202/.336/.384 in 25 playoff games dating back to last season, though some of his 2024 numbers were impacted by a torn labrum suffered in Game 2 of the World Series that required offseason surgery.

Whatever issues Ohtani was having at the plate, it didn’t impact what he was doing on the mound. His first playoff pitching performance in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies saw him allow three runs on three hits with nine strikeouts in six innings.

The Dodgers have steamrolled their way through the NL to reach the Fall Classic for a second consecutive year. They are 10-1 in the postseason with wins over the Brewers, Phillies and Cincinnati Reds.

Ohtani and the Dodgers will await the winner of the ALCS between the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 24.

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LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani did something that has never happened before in the annals of postseason baseball.

Ohtani took the mound to start against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. He walked the first batter and then struck out the next three on the way to six shutout innings.

He then led off the bottom of the first inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers and parked a full-count pitch deep into the right field pavilion, his first of three homers on the night.

Not even Babe Ruth did that. But Ohtani did, showing everyone why the Dodgers were willing to pay him $700 million over 10 years, with $680 million of that money deferred.

“That first inning. It was amazing,” said Dodgers owner Mark Walter, the NL championship trophy nestled in his arms after the Dodgers claimed the best-of-seven series by sweeping the Brewers with a 5-1 win, booking a spot in their second straight World Series. “There’s not much more you can ask from a player.”

The first inning heroics was only the beginning of the night for Ohtani, whose three homers were wedged into a pitching performance that went into the seventh inning. He left at 100 pitches without allowing a run on two hits. He walked three and struck out 10, and he was credited with his second win in two starts this postseason. Ohtani’s historic Game 4 earned him the series MVP.

“You can’t script this,” Walter said. “Six innings of shutout ball and three home runs? That’s crazy.”

The three homers totaled 1,342 feet, the second in the fourth inning striking the right field pavilion roof some 469 feet away where few players have feared to tread. It hit the roof and rolled off into the concession area behind it.

“That was the greatest postseason performance of all time and there have been a lot of postseason games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet. What he did on the mound. What he did with the bat. He created a lot of memories for a lot of people.”

The Brewers, whose 97-65 record was the best in MLB this season, were inept in the series scoring five runs on 14 hits in the four games.

“We were part of an iconic performance, maybe the best individual performance ever in a postseason game,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, echoing the common sentiment. “I don’t think anybody can argue with that. A guy punches out 10 and hits three homers. I’m proud of our team, but it came to an end tonight.”

The Brewers had previously handled Ohtani well; in the first three games, they held him to 2-for-11 in the series with no homers, five whiffs and a .721 OPS. He finished the series 5-for-14 while his OPS leapt to 1.643 with the results of the one game. He’s had five homers now in the postseason, all of which came in two games; he had two homers in Game 1 of a Wild Card Series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

“The last couple days I felt pretty good at the plate,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “And just because of the postseason, the small sample size, the lack of performance really skews in this short period of time.”

Still, between a four-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in an NL Division Series and this NLCS, Ohtani has struggled. He went 6-for-32 (.188) with the three homers, five RBIs, 14 strikeouts and six walks, three of them intentional.

His slump lifted Friday night.

“He’s probably the greatest free agent signing of all-time,” Walter, who signed Ohtani in late 2023, said. “I mean, he’s unbelievable. We’re just lucky to have him.”

The Dodgers bring in over $100 million a season in marketing and advertising from Asian firms, thanks to their three Japanese pitchers: Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaski.

“We make a lot of money from those guys, for sure,” Walter said. “But it takes a team to win, it really does.”

The Dodgers will play either the Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series beginning Friday night in either Los Angeles or Toronto, depending on the results of the American League Championship Series. The Mariners lead 3-2 with Game 6 on Sunday night at Rogers Centre. Game 7 is on Monday night, if necessary.

In Seattle on Friday night, the Mariners were trailing the Blue Jays, 2-1, in the eighth inning in T-Mobile Park when Cal Raleigh tied it with his fourth playoff homer. He led Major League Baseball with 60 on the season this year.

Raleigh’s homer happened almost simultaneously to Ohtani’s first-inning blast about 1,000 miles away. Eugenio Suarez followed Raleigh with a grand slam later in the inning to seal the 6-2 win, sending the Mariners back to Toronto with two chances of qualifying for the World Series, a first in franchise history.

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