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“The reason why I’m a two-way player is because that’s who I am, and it’s what I can do.”
That’s what Shohei Ohtani said after his first postseason start in the National League Division Series. The singular superstar has put extra pressure on himself, an added burden, to brilliantly execute being that two-way player. For himself, and for the team.
That drive and identity delivered a masterclass on Friday night. It’s performances like that which put Ohtani firmly in the conversation as the best baseball player ever.
In the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the Brewers that clinched a sweep in the NL Championship Series, Ohtani went 3-for-3 with three solo home runs and a walk at the plate. On the mound, he threw six-plus scoreless innings, allowed two hits and three walks while striking out 10. It will go down as the best individual performance we have ever seen.
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
The path for him to get back to this level both on the mound and at the plate, though, was not easy.
Ohtani did not pitch last season in his debut campaign with the Dodgers. He went through a grueling and tedious rehab process earlier this year, healing from what was described as a “complicated surgery” in November to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. That happened while Ohtani was rehabbing from a second career operation on the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.
Ohtani finally returned to the mound in June, but he wasn’t as consistently effective at the plate on the days that he pitched. That pattern even trickled into the Division Series against the Phillies, against whom he delivered a quality start with nine strikeouts while going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts at the plate.
People began to question his talent. If he could no longer do both exceptionally well, could he really be the best baseball player in history?
It was easier for Ohtani to say, forget it. Why bother? It was common sense for Ohtani to bypass the brutal and demanding rehab process that would make him a two-way player again. He could’ve focused solely on hitting, like he did for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their winning run to the 2024 championship. Why put himself through it?
Ohtani walked into Dodger Stadium on Friday with his critics full of fuel. To that point, the two-way player hadn’t put up the kind of offensive numbers anyone had expected in the postseason. He looked lost in his at-bats, swinging wildly and chasing pitches that were several inches off the plate. Ohtani was batting .158 in nine playoff games.
So, skeptics were beginning to wonder whether Ohtani could be considered the greatest baseball player ever if he couldn’t come through on the sport’s biggest stage.
Those around Ohtani noticed he was becoming uncharacteristically agitated. For a player who goes about his multi-faceted routine with a maniacal level of focus, patience, and decency toward everyone around him, even a slight display of irritation is a noteworthy event. That he was getting defensive about his talent was a telltale sign that something mythical was brewing.
So, yes. His three home runs at the plate and 10 strikeouts from the mound will end the debate. Full stop. End of discussion. Ohtani is the best to ever do it.
Yet, even still, there will be those who doubt Ohtani’s performance was the best they’ve ever seen. What about Reggie Jackson’s three home runs in the 1977 World Series? It was phenomenal. But Jackson didn’t record 10 strikeouts from the mound. What about Don Larsen’s perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 Fall Classic? It was magnificent. But Larsen didn’t hit three home runs from the plate, the second of which left the ballpark entirely.
Perhaps the best measure of how singularly unique Ohtani was on Friday night is when he left his teammates in awe. These are the same superhuman athletes who know what it takes to win the World Series. These are the same friends and peers who saw Ohtani accomplish the unimaginable last year, when he became the first player in baseball history to record a 50/50 season, doing so in a game that was another highlight of his career — to that point. He went 6-for-6 with 10 RBI, three home runs, two stolen bases and four runs scored.
But what Ohtani did in Game 4 of the ALCS topped everything they have ever seen on a baseball field.
Max Muncy doesn’t really care what other people say, the arguments they will have and the comparisons they will draw. He stood behind Ohtani at third base and watched him pitch six shutout innings and whiff 10 batters like it was easy. He watched in awe from the dugout as Ohtani hit three home runs off three pitchers who offered three different pitches.
“I can’t wait for when I’m a little older and my kids are asking about, ‘What’s the greatest thing you’ve ever seen in baseball?'” Muncy told reporters on Friday night. “I can’t wait to pull up this game today. That’s the single best performance in the history of baseball.”
The best part? Who knows what he will do next.
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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