by Cary Osborne
There have been few performances this powerful in Dodger postseason history, and only a handful in Major League postseason history.
One of them was Babe Ruth’s “called shot” game in the 1932 World Series.
After starter Blake Snell struck out the first batter of the game and retired the Reds in order in the first inning on Tuesday, Shohei Ohtani hit a laser into the Right Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium for a leadoff home run off ace Hunter Greene.
By the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dodgers had hit five home runs in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series — two from Ohtani, two from Teoscar Hernández and another from Tommy Edman.
The powerful offense and seven mostly dominant innings from starter Blake Snell helped give the Dodgers 1–0 lead in the best-of-three series with a 10–5 victory at Dodger Stadium.
The momentum from a 15–5 record over the last 20 games continued in the Dodgers’ first 2025 postseason game.
“We were playing really good baseball the last two weeks, three weeks,” Hernández said. “We knew the things that we can do, especially in big moments like this. The focus is always there, but I think as a player you get more when the playoffs start.”
Hernández’s three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning was followed by an Edman solo homer to go back-to-back. The Reds and Greene found themselves in a deep 5–0 hole.
“I think that leadoff homer from Shohei was big. I think that shutdown inning from Blake was big, and I thought from the outset, we had a really good gameplan against Hunter and we just didn’t miss pitches when he made mistakes,” said manager Dave Roberts. “Teo’s hit was huge.”
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This is the 15th time in Dodger postseason history that they have scored at least 10 runs in a game. The five homers tie a Dodger postseason single-game record. They also hit five homers in Game 5 of the 2021 NL Championship Series and Game 3 of the 2020 NLCS — both against Atlanta.
Hernández hit homers in the third and fifth innings — the three-run home run and a solo shot, respectively. Ohtani added to his leadoff homer with a two-run homer in the sixth. It’s the 16th and 17th times a Dodger has had a postseason multi-homer game.
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It’s the second time in franchise history that two players have had a multi-homer game in the postseason. Chris Taylor (three homers) and AJ Pollock (two) were the previous power couple in Game 5 of the 2021 NLCS.
There have been only five occurrences in postseason history in which two teammates have hit at least two homers in the same game.
The previous time was Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos in Game 3 of the 2023 NL Division Series. The first was Ruth and Lou Gehrig in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series.
Hernández went 3-for-5 with four RBI. He has a seven-game postseason hitting streak dating back to Game 6 of the 2024 NLCS. He is 12-for-29 with three home runs and nine RBI in that span.
Ohtani’s homers were the fourth and fifth of his postseason career.
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While the Dodgers were pounding out runs, Snell was preventing them. He allowed one hit through his first six innings. The Reds strung together some offense in the seventh inning with three hits and two runs. But Snell ended the frame by stranding catcher Tyler Stephenson in second base with a Ke’Bryan Hayes groundout.
The Dodgers built up enough offense to withstand an uncomfortable eighth inning.
The Dodgers used three pitchers in the frame, issued four walks and allowed two hits and three runs. Blake Treinen recorded the final three outs in the ninth.
2025 Wild Card: Dodgers are led by a power couple in Game 1 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.