Shohei Ohtani is used to making history.
He brought Roki Sasaki along for the ride on Saturday in the Los Angeles Dodgers' NLDS-opening win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The feat involved the fact that both Ohtani and Sasaki hail from Japan.
There had never been an MLB playoff game before where one Japanese pitcher started and got the win, and another Japanese pitcher closed out the game and earned a save.
The stat, from MLB Network's Sarah Langs, helps drive home the point of how special this combination was.
Ohtani, of course, is the two-way superstar, so anything he does is remarkable. And Sasaki was a starting pitcher until very recently, but he has settled into the closer role.
The Boston Red Sox had a combination of Japanese pitchers go win-save in the postseason in 2013 (Tazawa, Uehara), but that was with two guys who came out of the bullpen, rather than one who was a starter.
Ohtani wouldn't have gotten the win without a big hitting inning highlighted by a three-run home run from Teoscar Hernandez.
But once that happened, it was up to the bullpen to finish things off.
And Sasaki, despite being new to the role, was up to the task.
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