2025 NLCS Game 4 Post-Game Thread: Shohei Ohtani Is A MLB Cheat Code

DODGERS 5, BREWERS 1
DODGERS WIN NLCS 4-0, ADVANCE TO 2025 WORLD SERIES

It has taken me about 12 hours to fully process what I watched last night (on television, like most of us; though my mom was at the game!). It still does not seem real or even possible.

Coming off the commentary about a woeful postseason at the plate (batting .158 heading into this game), Shohei Ohtani not only flipped the script, he did so in historic fashion: three home runs in a postseason game, as well as 10 Ks and no ER as a starting pitcher in a postseason game.

IN THE SAME GAME.

After getting home from my friend's house where I watched the game, I watched some highlights. At 3am, I got up and watched more highlights and read some articles. And this morning, I read even more articles. And no one can put this game into words.

Perhaps the best piece I've read is Jayson Stark's recap over at The Athletic (paywall), in which he calls last night's game "the greatest game in baseball history." One of his seven points:

5. The greatest first inning ever

Who writes these scripts? Here’s how Ohtani’s first inning went on the mound:

Walked the leadoff hitter (Brice Turang) … then casually struck out the next three hitters … Jackson Chourio on a 100.3 mph scorcher, Christian Yelich on a 100.2 mph brushfire, then William Contreras flailing at a sweeper that dropped 29 inches, to go with 17 inches of vertical break.

Dodger Stadium was louder than a launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Then up stepped the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter — the starting pitcher — who did this …

So 446 feet later, this game would never be the same. And neither would the history books.

History lesson No. 1 — How many starting pitchers had ever blasted a leadoff home run before Ohtani pounded that one? Yep, that would be zero. Not in any postseason game. Not in any regular-season game. But, um, not anymore.

History lesson No. 2 — This was the 1,869th game in postseason history — which means there have been more than 16,000 innings. How many pitchers would you guess have struck out three hitters in a row and hit a home run in the same inning of a postseason game? As always, zero would be a savvy guess. (Hat tip: Elias Sports Bureau.)

[...]

But are we sure — absolutely, positively sure — that this was the greatest game ever played? Of course we are! To show you why, let’s just review a handful of the postseason contenders.

There was the Reggie Jackson Three-Homer Game (that clinched the 1978 World Series for the Yankees).

There was the David Freese Game (that brought the 2011 Cardinals back from the dead in an epic World Series Game 6).

There were the legendary World Series long balls of Kirk Gibson (1988), Joe Carter (1993), Bill Mazeroski (1960) and even Freddie Freeman (last October).

They were all fit for the story books and the history books. But I’d just like to point out one thing: All those guys forgot to pitch in those games.

And speaking of pitchers, there was Bob Gibson’s fabled 17-strikeout game (in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series).

There was Roy Halladay’s unforgettable no-hitter in the first postseason game of his career (in 2010).

There was Don Larsen’s once-in-a-lifetime perfect game in 1956 — probably the most famous, most romanticized game ever pitched.

But now here I come again to make one small observation: All those guys forgot to hit a single home run on those days.

Really then, how can any legendary game you might want to nominate equal this one? Not to diminish anyone else’s greatest day on a baseball field, but if they didn’t fill up the K column, bash any baseballs out the stadium (and possibly the solar system) and send their teams to the World Series — all in the same game — they can’t possibly measure up. Can they?

So you know those people who like to fire off opinions that it’s time for Ohtani to give up this pitching side gig of his because it’s not worth it … it’s hurting his hitting … he’d be just as valuable doing only one thing? There might be an answer now for those people. How about this:

Any time that comes up, what do you say we just cue up the video of Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS and remind them of what is possible? “Yeah,” Friedman said. “That’s right. We can just enter it into exhibit and rest our case.”

There were other amazing things that happened in this 2025 NLCS. Like Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto's starts, for example. But at the conclusion of this game, in talking with my friend's kid: there was really only one choice for NLCS MVP. And it happened to be awarded to a guy who was batting 2-for-11 in this series prior to last night's Game 4 (and even with this prolific 3-for-4 with 3 HR performance, his 2025 postseason batting average only lifted to .220--albeit with a .967 OPS now).

To be that amazing from both sides of the plate...as SoSG AC put it, it's like the Bo Jackson avatar back in NES Tecmo Bowl when his speed could have him run backwards and forwards all over the field, evading all the AI opponent tacklers.

Or if you played MLB The Show and spent a ton of time grinding out the best offensive player...and then did the same amount of grinding to create the best pitcher...and then merged the two together so they were 100% attribute-leveled in the same character. I don't think that is even possible in that videogame. They're going to have to change the game, just like Shohei has changed the game of baseball for us.

I mean, what's next. He hits every day. Can Ohtani pitch every day as well? Would you even put that out of the realm of possibility at this stage?

Unbelievable. We will talk about The Ohtani Game for decades to come. Let's take some more time to soak this one in before we think about the World Series.

We are basking in baseball greatness.