LOS ANGELES — The stage was set for Shohei Ohtani on Friday in the form of a packed interview room and a label-less water bottle that baseball’s most famous designated hitter fidgeted with for 11 minutes.
The biggest stage of his baseball life — his first taste of the Major League Baseball postseason — beckons for the game’s biggest star. For years, Ohtani said, he’s held “mixed, complicated” feelings toward October. Largely because he hasn’t had a taste yet. It’s why he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record fee last winter.
This is what he has been waiting for. But was he nervous?
“Nope,” Ohtani answered in perfect English before interpreter Will Ireton could relay the question to him in Japanese. The two chuckled.
Teammates and coaches alike have marveled at Ohtani as the potential National League MVP turned in his best month of the season amid a division chase, rewriting history books in the process. Over the final 10 games of the season, he hit .628 and collected hits in 11 of his final 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“It’s hard to say that a guy has lived up to the hype, but in all reality he’s almost exceeded it,” Max Muncy said last month. “He didn’t get out,” Freddie Freeman said.
“It was incredible,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “Just, you know, for the people who are conspiracy theorists and think that Vince McMahon is scripting Major League Baseball, I think the way he got 40-40, the game he had to get to 50-50, I think it’s added some fuel for those people. It’s incredible. I mean, just the ability to slow everything down around him is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
To suggest more could be coming should be preposterous. Then again, this is Ohtani, who has already reconfigured what many in the sport felt was possible. His numbers this season have been eye-popping, slugging 54 home runs and stealing 59 bases while nearly nabbing the first Triple Crown the National League would’ve seen since 1937. No player in baseball history had ever crossed the 50-50 threshold before Ohtani. In a season where the two-way star didn’t throw a single pitch, he found a new way to amaze.
“It’s always been my childhood dream to be in important situations, to play in important games, so I think the excitement of that is greater than anything else I could possibly feel.” Shohei Ohtani on why he’s not nervous heading into his first postseason appearance. pic.twitter.com/Etx461qVyO
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) October 5, 2024
His presence is as necessary as ever, with Freeman nursing a badly sprained ankle, the starting rotation whittled down by injuries, and a familiar, dangerous opponent looming in the San Diego Padres. How they attack him and, in turn, how willing they are to let Mookie Betts and Freeman beat them, remains one of several unknowns.
“I’m not telling you,” Padres manager Mike Shildt quipped Friday.
So for weeks, Roberts has stressed the need for Ohtani to not try to do too much — something Ohtani conceded he let get to him often in his early months with the Dodgers after six seasons with the Angels.
“(He’s) a crazy talented ball player,” Roberts said. “He’s the most talented hitter on the field. He can change the game in a lot of different ways. … If there’s any person that I feel that’s going to be able to handle this, it’s certainly Shohei. But I think he just brings a next-level megastar to our ballclub.
“I think that he understands the talent behind him. He can’t do it all on his own. He’s just got to continue to take good at-bats and play the game to win. And if he does that, then it’s up to all of us.”
All eyes will remain fixed on Ohtani regardless. His pitching remains on pause — Friedman confirmed on Thursday that while Ohtani will continue throwing, he will not face any hitters this October. The club has continued to structure his ongoing rehab from a second major elbow ligament reconstruction around his hitting, with deference to the club’s ongoing postseason push. If the Dodgers are going to get anywhere, it will likely be on Ohtani’s shoulders.
Shohei Ohtani continues to throw but the Dodgers insist he won’t pitch in the playoffs. (Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
Such was the case in March of 2023 when Ohtani powered Samurai Japan to a World Baseball Classic title, including recording the final three outs and striking out then-teammate Mike Trout to knock off the United States in the final game.
“He was leading the team,” Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani’s teammate with Japan and now with the Dodgers, said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda, “And (he was) performing as kind of like a leader of the team.”
Ohtani’s postseason experience dates back to his time in Japan, where in 2016 he pitched and served as a designated hitter for the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japan Series.
None of those experiences, Ohtani said, will match the challenge ahead. Ohtani recalled memories of postseasons past. He spoke about visiting Driveline’s campus in Seattle in October 2020 as the Dodgers snapped their 32-year title drought. He sat, recovering from surgery during the 2023 postseason as a familiar division rival with the Angels, the Texas Rangers, raised the World Series trophy for the first time in their history.
He wants his turn. That’s why he’s not nervous.
“It’s always been my childhood dream to be able to be in an important situation, to play in important games,” Ohtani said. “So I think the excitement of that is greater than anything else that I could possibly feel.”
(Top photo: Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
