Friday’s two League Championship Series games featured overpowering pitching, multiple jaw-dropping homers and a never-before-seen feat from the incomparable Shohei Ohtani.
If you missed any of the action — or just want to relive it all, like us — then you’re in luck. Here’s a timeline recounting all of Friday’s craziest moments.
All times are listed in Pacific Time, since both games were played in that time zone.
4:13 p.m. — A rare 2-3 double play
The first game-changing moment on a day defined by tape-measure home runs occurred on a ball that barely left the batter’s box. Down a run in the fourth inning in Game 5 of the ALCS, the Blue Jays loaded the bases with nobody out against Bryce Miller, who retired Daulton Varsho for the first out. That brought up the red-hot Ernie Clement, who swung at a first-pitch splitter and chopped it right down on home plate. Cal Raleigh fell to a knee, stepped on the plate, and threw out Clement at first for an untraditional 2-3 double play. As it turns out, it was the first 2-3 double play in a postseason game since Oct. 11, 2000, fielded by none other then current Mariners manager Dan Wilson.
4:57 p.m. — Alejandro Kirk scores from second base
Toronto may have wasted an opportunity in the fourth inning, but it countered in each of the next two frames to take a 2-1 lead. Clement’s base knock in the sixth inning brought home Kirk all the way from second base. Kirk is one of the slowest players in the Majors, with an average sprint speed of 24.3 ft/sec. It’s not often that he takes an extra base. In fact, there were 11 situations in the regular season when a Toronto batter hit a single with Kirk on second base. Kirk was given the stop sign at third base all 11 times. But today? Kirk chugged around third to score, with third base coach Carlos Febles joining him down the third base line.
5:45 p.m. — Shohei Ohtani strikes out the side
Ohtani stole the night with his bat, but an all-time great performance actually started on the mound. In his second career playoff start, Ohtani had a chance to vault the Dodgers to the World Series, with a win in Game 4 of the NLCS. He came out of the gates ready to go. His first pitch crackled in at 99.1 mph. After walking Brice Turang, Ohtani struck out the next three batters. His K’s of Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich came on fastballs clocked in at 100 mph.
5:47 p.m. — Raleigh ties the game
In the Pacific Northwest, legions of Mariners fans were surely growing anxious inside T-Mobile Park. They had waited days to explode, but back-to-back losses in Games 3 and 4 provided little reason to cheer. That changed when Raleigh, baseball’s home run king, stepped to the plate in the eighth inning with a chance to tie the game with one mighty swing. Raleigh lifted a towering fly ball to left field, and it just had enough distance to clear the wall. The sky-scraping homer incited a frenzy. Raleigh’s game-tying blast came as a right-handed hitter, his first plate appearance from the right side in the ALCS. It gave the Mariners new life, too.
5:50 p.m. — Ohtani clubs a leadoff homer
On the diamond, Ohtani is capable of doing so many things that no one else can – chief among them, supplying himself with run support. Though he entered Friday’s game in a 4-for-33 skid, Ohtani wasted no time reminding everyone how hard, and how far, he can hit a baseball. He led off the bottom of the first inning with a 446-foot blast off left-hander Jose Quintana. Exactly one year ago, Ohtani led off Game 4 of the 2024 NLCS with a home run off, you guessed it, Quintana. As it turns out, his otherworldly, slump-busting night was just beginning.
6:00 p.m. — Eugenio Suárez grand slam
Meanwhile, in Seattle, the Mariners were threatening to break a 2-2 tie. With nobody out, they loaded the bases on two walks and a hit by pitch against Brendon Little and Seranthony Domínguez. Suárez – who homered earlier in the game – climbed into the box. He clubbed a fastball over the right-field wall for a go-ahead grand slam, and T-Mobile Park shook. If you don’t believe us, the earthquake monitors will prove it. Suarez became the 17th player in the postseason with a grand slam in the eighth inning or later, and the first since Freddie Freeman in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.
6:56 p.m. — Ohtani leaves Dodger Stadium
Ohtani’s first home run was majestic. But his second blast of the night was titanic. In the fourth inning, he uncorked a 469-foot moonshot off right-hander Chad Patrick, clearing the pavilion at the top of the right-field bleachers. Ohtani became only the seventh player to launch a home run that left Dodger Stadium entirely, no small feat for the third-oldest active ballpark in MLB.
7:19 p.m. — Ohtani records his 10th strikeout
By this point, Ohtani had already become the first pitcher in postseason history to have a multi-homer game. But he wasn’t finished carving his way through the Brewers lineup. He coasted through six innings, silencing Milwaukee with a lethal combination of high-octane velocity and wicked secondary pitches. His 10th strikeout came on a devastating splitter, which baffled Turang. With that strikeout, Ohtani joined Bob Gibson as the only pitchers in postseason history to have at least 10 strikeouts and a home run in the same game.
7:44 p.m. — Ohtani homers again
Ohtani left the game as a pitcher in the top of the seventh inning, walking off the mound to a deafening hand from the Dodger Stadium faithful. Little did they know, they would have more reason to cheer in just a few minutes. Facing flame-throwing reliever Trevor Megill, Ohtani took a 98.9 mph fastball and crushed a 427-foot shot that cleared the wall in center field. He’s the first player to hit three home runs in a postseason game since Chris Taylor in Game 5 of the 2021 NLCS, and the 12th player in playoff history to accomplish the feat. It put the capper on a truly epic performance that we’ll remember for quite some time.
8:20 p.m. — Roki Sasaki slams the door, Dodgers win the pennant
Who else to close out the Dodgers’ pennant-clinching victory except for Sasaki? The 23-year-old has ascended from enigma to lockdown closer, all within the span of a month. He’s become the team’s most reliable reliever on the biggest stage and continues to deliver. Sasaki needed just nine pitches to set down the Brewers in the ninth inning, inciting a celebration at Dodger Stadium as L.A. captured its second straight NL pennant.
With that, a magical night of baseball came to an end. The rest of us could finally catch our breath.
