Mookie Betts stood on the Dodger Stadium field Friday night, a commemorative World Series cap on his head and a wide smile stretched across his face, searching for words to describe what he had just witnessed. “That’s not a baseball player,” Betts said, pausing before breaking into a grin. “That’s a superhero.”
Betts, of course, was referring to Shohei Ohtani — the Dodgers’ transcendent two-way star who, once again, delivered a performance that seemed to defy the boundaries of sport and reason. In Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, Ohtani pitched six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and hit three home runs, powering the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5–1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and a commanding 4–0 series sweep.
With the win, Los Angeles clinched its second consecutive National League pennant, returning to the World Series one year after breaking a 36-year drought with its 2024 title.
For all the history Ohtani has already made in his career, Friday’s masterpiece might stand alone. According to ESPN Research, Ohtani became the first player in Major League history to hit two home runs as a pitcher in a postseason game — let alone three. He hit more home runs (3) than he allowed hits (2), an achievement never before recorded in any six-inning start since the mound moved to its current distance in 1893.
He also became the first Dodgers pitcher ever to homer in the postseason and joined Enrique Hernández (2017 NLCS) as the only Dodgers to hit three home runs in an LCS-clinching game.
“Some human, huh?” Hernández said with a laugh afterward. “You just run out of words for him.”
Ohtani’s brilliance came after a prolonged slump that had many wondering whether his dual workload was taking its toll. Over his previous seven games, Ohtani had just three hits in 29 at-bats with 14 strikeouts. But after an extended outdoor batting practice session earlier this week, he rediscovered his rhythm — and made history in the process.
Ohtani took the ball on 12 days’ rest and immediately set the tone, walking leadoff man Brice Turang before fanning Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich on back-to-back 100 mph fastballs. He struck out William Contreras with a sweeping slider to end the first inning, walking briskly off the mound and straight into his next role — leadoff hitter.
Moments later, he turned on a low slurve from José Quintana and launched it 446 feet into the left-field pavilion for a 1–0 Dodgers lead.
By the fourth inning, after a brief Brewers threat, Ohtani returned to the plate with two outs and none on. Facing reliever Chad Patrick, he unleashed a ferocious swing on a cutter and sent it 469 feet over the right-center-field bleachers, the ball seemingly leaving Dodger Stadium itself.
He struck out four consecutive Brewers in the fifth and sixth innings — all on splitters that darted like mirages — and exited to a standing ovation from 52,883 fans after allowing two baserunners in the seventh.
The Dodgers bullpen handled the rest, and when the final out settled into Freddie Freeman’s glove, Ohtani was named NLCS MVP, having done something no one else ever had.
After a sluggish midseason stretch, the Dodgers’ path to another World Series looked far from certain. A rash of injuries left their rotation vulnerable, their bullpen shaky, and their lineup inconsistent. But a players-only meeting in Baltimore in early September helped reset the tone. The Dodgers went 15–5 to close the regular season and have looked unstoppable ever since.
They swept the Reds in the Wild Card round, took down the Phillies in four NLDS games, and then completely neutralized the Brewers — outscoring them 17–4 and holding them to just 14 hits over 36 innings.
Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Ohtani combined for an astounding 0.63 ERA in the NLCS. Overall, the Dodgers’ pitching staff has posted a 1.40 ERA through their first 10 postseason games, a 9–1 run that has placed them in elite company.
Since 1893, 1,550 pitchers have struck out 10 or more in a game, and 503 hitters have homered three times. Only one player has ever done both on the same day: Shohei Ohtani.
“He’s doing things we couldn’t even imagine before,” said manager Dave Roberts. “You think you’ve seen it all — then he writes another chapter.”
Now, the Dodgers advance to their second straight World Series, becoming the first team since the 2009 Phillies to return the year after winning it. They’ve also joined a select group — the 2014 Royals, 2005 White Sox, 1999 Yankees, and 1995 Braves — as the only teams to start a postseason 9–1.
For Ohtani, it was not just redemption from an early-October slump, but a reminder of why he is baseball’s ultimate outlier. As Betts put it while clutching his new World Series cap, “We’re lucky to be his teammates. The rest of the world just gets to watch.”
Next stop: the Fall Classic — and another chance for Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers to make history.
