by Cary Osborne
The earlier views from home plate to beyond the Right Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium on Friday evening were of purple mountains majesty. The setting sun kissing the San Gabriel Mountains in the background produced an extraordinary scene.
And as Game 4 of the National League Championship Series played out, there were even more majestic views out toward the mountains.
Pitcher Shohei Ohtani hit three astounding home runs — a leadoff homer in the first inning, a second homer that bounced off the roof of the Right Field Pavilion and a third homer to center field.
In what is a singular performance in Major League postseason history — and one of the single-greatest performances in the sport’s history — Ohtani also dominated with six shutout innings and 10 strikeouts.
His single-game achievement helped vault the Dodgers back into the World Series, as the Dodgers swept the Brewers in four games with a 5–1 victory.
“There’s no question,” Dodger President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said on if it is the greatest single-game performance in baseball history.
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Ohtani wouldn’t allow himself to take the spotlight for this game. Instead, he doubled up on a comment that the night was about teammates picking each other up.
“There were at times during the postseason where Teo (Hernández) and Mookie (Betts) picked me up. And this time around it was my turn to be able to perform,” Ohtani said. “And I think just looking back over the course of the entire postseason, I haven’t performed to the expectation. But I think today we saw what the left-handed hitters could do.”
Ohtani became the first pitcher in Major League history — regular or postseason game — to hit a leadoff home run. He became the first pitcher in postseason history to hit two home runs in a game. Then he topped it by becoming the first to hit three home runs.
He became the 11th player in Major League postseason history to hit three home runs in a game.
Kiké Hernández is one of the 11, having done it also in a clinch game in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS. Hernández said the difference is that Ohtani pitched.
“There’s only one person that can do that in the whole world in the history of this game and that’s him,” Hernández said. “He is who he is for a reason, and he showed out tonight.”
Ohtani became the seventh player to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium. It’s the eighth homer hit out of the stadium. He went 3-for-3, walked and drove in three runs.
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“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” said manager Dave Roberts. “There’s been a lot of postseason games. And there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet.
All of this from a supposedly struggling slugger.
Ohtani came into the game 2-for-11 in the NLCS. He was 3-for-29 in the NL Division Series and NLCS coming into Friday.
He exploded on a Jose Quintana slurve, sending it 446 feet into the Right Field Pavilion to lead off the game for the Dodgers. This after he struck out the side in the top of the first inning.
His solo home run in the fourth inning fell from the dark sky onto the roof and bounced over. The Dodger dugout was dumbfounded by the site of a baseball travelling that distance — 469 feet.
It’s the longest postseason homer hit at Dodger Stadium in the Statcast Era (since 2015).
After he threw his 100th and final pitch of the game in the seventh inning, Ohtani grabbed a bat in the bottom of the seventh and hit a homer 427 feet to center field.
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Had he done nothing with the bat, it still would have been a noteworthy achievement with his pitching.
Ohtani’s six shutout innings added to a starting rotation that allowed two earned runs over 28 2/3 innings (a 0.63 ERA) with 35 strikeouts in the NLCS.
“What he did on the mound, what he did at the bat, he created a lot of memories for a lot of people,” Roberts said. So for us to do it in a game-clinching game at home, wins the NLCS MVP, pretty special. I’m just happy to be able to go along for the ride.”
The bigger picture is the World Series. The Dodgers now have the opportunity to be the first team to repeat since the New York Yankees, who won three straight from 1998–2000.
“I don’t think what we did last year has any bearing on this year. There’s a lot of guys in that room that weren’t a part of last year’s team,” Roberts said. “Like, I said on stage, our job’s not done, and we’ve got four more games to win.”
2025 NLCS: Ohtani’s greatest performance ever launches the Dodgers back into the World Series was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.