LOS ANGELES — Just when you think you’ve finally seen it all from Shohei Ohtani, he finds yet another way to make history — and then another … and another.
Ohtani put on perhaps his most impressive show yet in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
It started simply enough, with Ohtani the pitcher recording three strikeouts in the top of the first inning. Then, Ohtani — after quickly swapping his glove and cap for a bat and helmet without even entering the third-base dugout — promptly smashed a leadoff home run in the bottom half.
The leadoff home run made Ohtani the first pitcher in MLB history to hit a leadoff home run in either the regular season or the postseason. It was also the first home run by any Dodgers pitcher in postseason history — but he was far from done.
While Ohtani’s first home run — a 446-foot blast that left his bat at 116.5 mph — may have seemed like a no-doubter, it was nothing compared to the one he unleashed in the fourth inning. Having still yet to allow a run on the mound at the time, Ohtani stepped into the box and padded his own lead a bit further when he launched a ball over the roof of the Right Field Pavilion and clear out of Dodger Stadium.
Ohtani’s second solo shot traveled a Statcast-projected 469 feet and left his bat at 116.9 mph. He’s the only player since Statcast started tracking in 2015 to hit multiple home runs with an exit velocity of at least 116 mph in the same game (regular season included).
The last postseason homer by a pitcher came when the Brewers and Dodgers faced off in the 2018 NLCS, with Brandon Woodruff taking Clayton Kershaw deep in Game 1.
Once Ohtani’s night was done on the mound — and he threw six-plus scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts — he put the finishing touches on his performance by homering once more, this time taking Brewers reliever Trevor Megill to left-center field.
Despite all the firsts, Ohtani’s leadoff shot off Brewers starter Jose Quintana still had a bit of a familiar feel to it. That’s because it was exactly one year ago to the day that Ohtani hit a leadoff home run … off Quintana (then with the Mets) … in Game 4 of the NLCS. Per Elias, Ohtani is the fourth player to homer off the same pitcher on the same calendar day in multiple postseasons, joining Justin Turner (off Max Scherzer, Oct. 7, 2016 and 2019), Manny Ramirez (off Cole Hamels, Oct. 15, 2008 and 2009) and Dusty Baker (off Steve Carlton, Oct. 8, 1977 and 1983).
Ohtani entered Friday just 3-for-29 (.103) since the start of the NLDS. He had not homered since his two-homer game in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Sept. 30. With another multihomer effort on Friday, Ohtani became just the seventh player in MLB history — and the first Dodger — with two multihomer games in the same postseason.
Ohtani put an end to that drought with his third career postseason leadoff home run. That’s tied with Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins for the second most in MLB history, trailing only Kyle Schwarber (five).
