No need to welcome Shohei Ohtani to the MLB playoffs — he did it himself.
With Los Angeles in an early three-run hole thanks to Manny Machodo’s three-run homer, Ohtani went deep in his first-ever postseason game, sending a three-run shot off Padres starter Dylan Cease in the second inning to tie the game at three apiece.
The titanic blast led the Dodgers to a 7-5 come-from-behind win over the Padres in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Ohtani added a huge bat flip after the blast.
The only thing that may have gone faster than the 111.8 mph long ball was the bat itself, which Ohtani exuberantly chucked toward the dugout in celebration.
He admired the 372-foot shot as it made its way over right field and rand around the bases — allaying any fears at Dodger Stadium after he had fouled a ball off his knee on the pitch prior.
Despite Ohtani’s blast the Padres were able to temporarily regain the lead on Xander Bogaert’s two-run double in the third inning.
But the Dodgers regained the lead after Teoscar Hernández ripped a two-run single to give Los Angeles a 6-5 lead, and they never looked back.
As for Ohtani, the fact that he homered in his playoff debut shouldn’t come as a surprise on the heels of his history 54-homer, 59-steal season, in which he accumulated a franchise-record 411 total bases.
“It’s always been my childhood dream to be able to be in an important situation, to play in important games,” the Japanese superstar said through interpreter Will Ireton, according to MLB.com. “So I think the excitement of that is greater than anything else that I could possibly feel.”
Ohtani entered the Divisional Series on the heels of a season for which he’ll almost assuredly take home the National League MVP.
Ohtani’s .310 batting average ranked second in the Senior Circuit, while he finished with 15 more homers than Marcell Ozuna’s runner-up total of 39.
He added 130 RBIs — 18 more than Milwaukee’s Willy Adames, while finishing three hits being Luis Arraez’s league-leading total of 200.
Making the 30-year-old’s offensive feats more impressive was the fact he did so after undergoing Tommy John surgery — limiting the two-way star to being the designated hitting in his first season with the Dodgers.
Though manager Dave Roberts didn’t exclude the possibility Ohtani could be available to pitch in the postseason back in September, general manager Brandon Gomes shut them down this week.“I think it’s no different than before,” Gomes told reporters. “We don’t anticipate him pitching in the postseason.”
