Shohei Ohtani Simply Had the Greatest Playoff Recreation in Main League Historical past

Shohei Ohtani had fairly an evening, didn’t he?

Let’s be extra direct: Ohtani simply had the best particular person sport in postseason historical past. On the mound, he threw six scoreless innings, permitting two hits and three walks whereas putting out 10. He acquired pulled after giving up two straight baserunners to start out the seventh, which type of mucked up his line, which is ironic, as a result of that’s what the Dodgers offense has been doing to different beginning pitchers over the previous two weeks.

On the plate: 3-for-3 with a stroll. All of these hits had been solo dwelling runs: 116.5 mph off the bat and 446 toes within the first, 116.9 mph and 469 toes within the fourth, 113.6 mph and 427 toes to middle within the seventh. That second one, man, what a tank.

That is the proper distillation of the worth proposition for Ohtani. On condition that this win, 5-1 over the Brewers in NLCS Recreation 4, clinched the pennant for the Dodgers, both a type of performances would’ve been memorable-bordering-on-legendary for Dodger followers. Put collectively? Effectively, after that fourth-inning dwelling run, I began asking that query from a pair paragraphs again: Was this one of the best sport in playoff historical past?

Clearly, that’s solely an actual query by sure definitions of “finest.” Was this nearly as good as Don Larsen’s World Collection excellent sport? Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout to win the 1991 World Collection? Reggie Jackson’s three-homer sport to win the 1977 World Collection? No, insofar as Ohtani’s night time of nights doesn’t assure a championship. However let’s use a extra favorable definition: taking the sport in isolation (utilizing championship win likelihood as a tiebreaker at finest) and giving additional credit score to gamers who contribute on either side of the ball.

Ohtani is the primary beginning pitcher to homer twice in a playoff sport, however opposite to how he will get talked about, he’s not the primary pitcher to ever decide up a bat. His 12 complete bases on the plate are a brand new report for a beginning pitcher in a playoff sport, however 19 beginning pitchers earlier than him had homered as soon as in a playoff sport (Bob Gibson and Dave McNally did it twice every), and 25 beginning pitchers (together with Gibson and McNally) had recorded at the least 4 complete bases in a playoff sport.

I suppose I’ll pull again the curtain on the editorial course of right here. I began writing within the backside of the fifth inning. That final paragraph is so far as I acquired earlier than Ohtani homered for a 3rd time, rendering moot the query I’d got down to reply. Sure, this beautiful a lot needs to be one of the best particular person efficiency in postseason historical past, until championship leverage means every thing.

Let’s see who else was within the dialog till now.

Dutch Ruether held the earlier report for complete bases by a beginning pitcher with seven, and he did it in a sport the place he threw a 91-pitch full sport and allowed solely a single unearned run. That’s fairly spectacular, even by Ohtani’s requirements. Sadly, the world discovered a yr later that this sport happened beneath, let’s say, “sophisticated” circumstances, which takes among the shine off it.

Jesse Haines truly acquired the complete-game shutout, in opposition to the Assassin’s Row Yankees, no much less, although with considerably much less overpowering stuff than Ohtani. Nonetheless, he will get additional factors for diploma of problem. Right here’s a enjoyable little bit of trivia: The opposing beginning pitcher, the man Haines took deep? Dutch Ruether!

You can discuss me into this one being nearly nearly as good Ohtani’s, simply because Orel Hershiser had a contemporary strikeout complete in opposition to a harder opponent within the World Collection, and likewise didn’t make an out on the plate. We don’t anticipate aces to go the space anymore, however Ohtani did depart visitors on the bases after solely six innings, and a much less snakebit offense than Milwaukee’s would’ve scuffed up Ohtani’s run of zeroes.

I had by no means heard of Marius Russo earlier than tonight, however he reached base 3 times whereas permitting just one unearned run in a World Collection full sport. It’s value mentioning that whereas the 1943 Cardinals did have Stan Musial, Marty Marion, and Harry Walker, this was throughout World Struggle II, when lots of the finest large leaguers had been at struggle.

Earlier than tonight, I most likely would’ve singled this sport out as one of the best two-way efficiency in playoff historical past. That is the enduring sport for the enduring big-game pitcher of the mid-Twentieth Century. Gibson threw a whole sport, as was his customized; he was lifted for a reliever after eight innings in his first profession playoff begin, then completed the final eight postseason begins of his profession, all within the World Collection. Till his last outing, Recreation 7 of the 1968 World Collection in opposition to the Tigers, he additionally received each begin he made.

On this event, Gibson, who’d allowed one run and struck out 10 in Recreation 1 and threw a shutout in Recreation 4, was not fairly his finest on the mound. This time, he gave up a stunning two runs. However he acquired considered one of them again with a fifth-inning dinger off Jim Lonborg.

I feel the truth that this was Recreation 7 of the World Collection provides Gibson’s begin somewhat extra heft, regardless of my earlier protestations about context. So does the truth that his dwelling run got here in opposition to that yr’s AL Cy Younger winner. However Gibson additionally let in two runs and made three outs on the plate, whereas Ohtani made zero outs and allowed zero runs.

I feel a diplomatic method to examine these two video games, permitting for period and context, is to explain Ohtani’s Recreation 4 of the 2025 NLCS because the Millennial model of Gibson’s Recreation 7 of the 1967 World Collection. The latter being, once more, probably the most legendary particular person video games in baseball historical past, if not within the historical past of North American sport.

How good was Ohtani tonight? That good.