Shohei Ohtani’s legendary night leads Los Angeles Dodgers to another World Series, sweeping Milwaukee in 4 games

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — It’s once again Sho-time in the World Series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers will have a chance to defend their World Series title in this year’s Fall Classic after a Game 4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, clinching a four-game sweep in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers were led by their otherworldly star, Shohei Ohtani, who hit three home runs, struck out 10 batters and got the win for the Dodgers.

It was one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the game, let alone on a stage of this magnitude. Ohtani, the Japanese two-way star who has been breaking boundaries since he joined the league, looked sterling in a six-inning, shutout performance.

And then when he walked to the plate to do something no other player does in Major League Baseball these days – hitting while being a starting pitcher – Ohtani helped himself out. He hit home runs in the first, fourth and seventh innings, with the last one sending his teammates into hysterics.

According to MLB statistician Sarah Langs, Ohtani became the first player in league history to hit three home runs and strike out at least one batter, let alone 10. Per the TNT Sports broadcast, Ohtani became the first starting pitcher since 1900 to hit a leadoff home run in the regular season or the playoffs, and the first starting pitcher since 1900 to hit multiple home runs in a postseason game.

All of those incredible superlatives come with one other amazing fact, given that starting pitchers usually thrive on a regular five-day schedule for starts: It was the first time Ohtani had pitched in 13 days.

He was, quite obviously, named the NLCS MVP for his performance.

“It was really fun on both sides of ball today,” Ohtani said via his translator while holding the NLCS MVP trophy. “As a representative, I am taking this trophy and let’s get four more wins.”

Far from the home runs that baseball fans are used to seeing from pitchers, Ohtani’s blasts were absolutely majestic. He led off the game for the Dodgers with a 427-foot blast, hit a gigantic 469-foot homer in the fourth and topped it off with another mega 446-foot blast in the seventh.

“We won it as a team and this is really a team effort so I hope everybody in LA and Japan and all over the world can enjoy a really good sake,” Ohtani added.

It’s the fifth time in the last nine seasons that the Dodgers have won the National League pennant, the 26th trip to the World Series in their history.

“Oh my God. I’m still speechless,” Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman said of his teammate’s performance in an interview with the TNT broadcast after the game.

“Sometimes you have to check him and make sure he’s not made of steel when he does something like that. Absolutely incredible. The biggest stage and he goes and does something like that. It’ll probably be remembered as the Shohei Ohtani Game.”

Ohtani’s game drew the admiration from another Dodgers star, Clayton Kershaw.

“We all know about Shohei but until you play with him and you see him, it’s just a different level,” said Kershaw, the team’s future hall of famer who is coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs.

With the Seattle Mariners taking a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series over the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the night, the Dodgers will have to wait to find out who their opponent will be in the Fall Classic.

But whoever the American League champion is will be facing a buzzsaw.

The Dodgers have lost just one game in this postseason and their pitching hasn’t allowed more than one run per game since a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Divisional Series more than a week ago. Starters Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani make up one of the most formidable playoff rotations in recent memory and their lineup with Ohtani at the top followed by stars like Mookie Betts, Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and a slew of others.

“Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said to an applauding crowd on hand at Dodger Stadium. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball.”

No team has repeated as World Series champions since the New York Yankees dynasty of the last 1990s and early 2000s won three straight titles between 1998 and 2000. The Dodgers are the first team to even make it back to the World Series the year after winning it since the Phillies did it in the late 2000s.

Kershaw is one of the few players still in the league who was playing when the Phillies made that run. He’s on his last go-round now, retiring after the season and is relishing the opportunity to make history.

“Just to be a part of this team … I’m so happy to be a part of it. This group of guys is awesome, we have a blast and we’re playing so good. It’s just awesome. Whether I get to pitch or not, I’m just glad I get to be a part of it. It’s so fun.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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