LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Los Angeles Dodgers are one win away from the World Series.<\/p>\n
After a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night, the Dodgers have a chance to close out the National League Championship Series at home Friday, with two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani set to make his first postseason start at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n
For fans like Jon Tawa, the moment carries more than just baseball stakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s part of me I feel like, you know, being Japanese,\u201d Tawa said.<\/p>\n
Tawa, whose family immigrated from Japan, grew up a devoted Dodgers fan. Over time, that connection faded \u2014 until Ohtani signed with the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best experience I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said. \u201cI just want to put my hands out, shout and scream and cry.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Dodgers on the brink of another World Series appearance, Tawa plans to do whatever it takes to watch Ohtani take the mound \u2014 and, he hopes, celebrate a clinching win.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a unicorn from another world,\u201d Tawa said. \u201cHe can pitch, he can hit, he can run. What can he not do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohtani, who has struggled at the plate this postseason with a 3-for-29 slump, downplayed any concerns about balancing hitting and pitching duties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily think the pitching has affected my hitting performance,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cAs long as I control what I can control on the pitching side, I feel pretty good. On the hitting side, it\u2019s just stance, mechanics \u2014 it\u2019s a constant work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dodgers have leaned heavily on their starting pitching throughout the series and hope Ohtani can finish the job Friday, completing a four-game sweep of the Brewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to come through,\u201d he said. \u201cThe great players \u2014 they find a way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the doorstep of another World Series, the Dodgers aren\u2019t just winning games \u2014 they\u2019re winning hearts far beyond LA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Los Angeles Dodgers are one win away from the World Series. After a 3-1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,6632,7,426,127,10138,5996],"class_list":{"0":"post-10769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-app-sports","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-dodgers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-taylor-schaub","16":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}