Shohei Ohtani <\/a>just did in front of a frenzied sellout crowd of 52,883 that screamed and cheered so loud that Dodger Stadium actually shook?<\/p>\n\u201cWhat we witnessed,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, \u201cwas the single greatest game by a baseball player in the history of baseball.”<\/p>\n
Gushed Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez: \u201cIt was the greatest game by a human.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a performance that I’ve just never seen,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cNo one’s ever seen something like this. There\u2019s a reason why he\u2019s the greatest player on the planet.”<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t a hint of hyperbole by anyone in their clubhouse to describe Ohtani\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
The reality is that Ohtani became the first player in history to hit three home runs, strike out 10 batters and pitch six shutout innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got to check yourself and touch him to make sure he\u2019s not just made of steel,\u201d Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. \u201cAbsolutely incredible. Biggest stage, and he goes out and does something like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll probably be remembered as The Shohei Ohtani Game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohtani\u2019s night was so impressive that he actually hit more home runs than the two hits he allowed. He struck out more batters than the combined total of the Milwaukee Brewers\u2019 entire starting rotation this series. He was the 12th player to hit three homers in a postseason game, and joined Hall of Famer George Brett as the only players to do it from the leadoff spot.<\/p>\n
The greatest playoff performance in baseball ever?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s no question about it,\u201d said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations. \u201cThrough four innings I texted our Slack thread and said, \u2018This is the greatest four innings every played in postseason history by a major league player. The greatest four innings ever.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he hits another home run. \u2018The greatest six innings ever. Seven innings.\u2019 There\u2019s no question it was the greatest postseason performance in the game ever.”<\/p>\n
The only real debate of the night was just how far Ohtani\u2019s second home run traveled in the fourth inning, clearing the right-field pavillion and landing in the picnic area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat one kind of took everyone’s breath away,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said.<\/p>\n
It was measured at 469 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the farthest ball I\u2019ve ever seen hit,” Muncy said. \u201cI\u2019ve played a lot of games here, and I\u2019ve never seen a ball go that far. I know Statcast said 460 feet, but I don\u2019t care what Statcast says. Statcast is wrong. I know this stadium really well. I know the dimensions. I know how deep the bleachers are. That ball is not less than 500 feet.”<\/p>\n
Maybe even further.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only one person who can do that in the world, and in the history of this game,” Dodgers utilityman Enrique Hernandez said, \u201cand it\u2019s him.”<\/p>\n
It really doesn\u2019t matter. When this performance is re-told generations from now, it will be a 600-foot homer, maybe 700 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were sitting in the bullpen watching that fly out of here, and we lost it,” Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda said. \u201cWe thought it had left the stadium. It went over the clearing of the pavillion rooftop. We never even saw it land. It was incredible.”<\/p>\n
Ohtani gave up just one hit through six innings when he tired in the seventh. He walked the leadoff batter, gave up a single and was taken out of the game only as a pitcher, walking off the mound to a roar that could be heard to Malibu.<\/p>\n
Well, like any good entertainer, he decided to return to the stage for an encore. He hit Brewers closer Trevor Megill\u2019s 98.9-mph fastball over the center field fence, 427 feet away, leaving the crowd and his own teammates screaming in awe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in my office having to do something,” Dodgers president Stan Kasten said, \u201cand I said something completely unprintable. So, there.”<\/p>\n
Said Muncy: \u201cIt\u2019s kind of funny. There wasn\u2019t one person in the dugout that didn\u2019t think he was going to hit a home run tonight. He hits the second one and we\u2019re all talking, \u2018Is this the single greatest game anyone has ever played?\u2019 Everyone at the same time just said, \u2018You know he\u2019s going to hit another one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The only other time a pitcher hit three home runs in a baseball game was Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves in 1932, and that was a regular-season game.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s off to the World Series, where the Dodgers will face the Toronto Blue Jays or the Seattle Mariners with a chance to become the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series in 49 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore this season, they were saying the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” Roberts said on stage while raising the National League championship trophy. \u201cLet\u2019s get four more wins and really ruin baseball.”<\/p>\n
Well, that narrative can wait.<\/p>\n
This night all belonged to Ohtani.<\/p>\n
Betts, standing in the clubhouse, still shaking his head in disbelief, said there are no words to describe Ohtani, but he sure knows what it feels like to be his teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re like the Chicago Bulls, and he\u2019s Michael Jordan. I can tell my kids one day that I got to play with Ohtani. There\u2019s just no more words what you can say what he does.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just Shohei being Shohei.”<\/p>\n
A once-in-a-lifetime talent, who put on a show for the ages Friday, perhaps paving the way for future generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gets put in these situations where you expect the incredible,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior says, \u201cand very rarely does he disappoint. To be able to impact the game on both sides of the game is unbelievable. I think he is trying to inspire a different generation that it can be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy by any means, but it\u2019s pretty cool for him to pave the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a performance.”<\/p>\n
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Los Angeles Dodgers made it to third World Series in six years USA TODAY Sports’ Gabe Lacques…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[3044,3307,107717,49,48,511,102998,4237,102999,3043,487,4440,32944,462,107716,10168,32940,47,2349,44,6905,1333,1345,1334,7652,482,82,865],"class_list":["post-225097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-angeles","tag-baseball","tag-betts","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dodgers","tag-freddie","tag-freddie-freeman","tag-freeman","tag-los","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-max","tag-max-muncy","tag-mlb","tag-mookie","tag-mookie-betts","tag-muncy","tag-national","tag-national-sports","tag-news","tag-ohtani","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-shohei","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports","tag-sports-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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