It's not that we haven't seen it before, but it's important to not let anything Shohei Ohtani does on a baseball field be taken for granted.
On Friday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar will take the mound to start Game 4 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers in his home stadium. His hope will be to record three quick outs, because he's got another job to do.
When that third out is made, Ohtani will hustle off toward the dugout, where his hitting equipment will be ready and waiting for him. He'll put on his pads and his helmets, swing his bat a few times and dig into the box to be the Dodgers' leadoff hitter.
This is the Ohtani experience, something that happened for the first playoff time in the NLDS and will now happen again Friday. And there's nothing like it.
This time, Ohtani can deliver the Dodgers a spot in the World Series. They're up 3-0 on the Brewers, and Ohtani becomes their guy who can close it out. No one would bet against him.
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Ohtani never made it to the postseason with the Angels.
And last season, as the Dodgers won the World Series, Ohtani could only hit. He was still recovering from Tommy John surgery and didn't throw a pitch in his first season in town.
That didn't stop Ohtani from making an impact, of course. He's one of the best hitters in the sport, and he had the game's first 50-50 season with his massive home run and stolen base combination in 2024.
This time around, though, Ohtani is back to doing it all. Even Babe Ruth in his prime wasn't quite like this. When Ruth went to the Yankees, his pitching career was essentially over, despite how brilliant he had been. He wasn't a full-time two-way guy.
Ohtani is one of one, and there'll likely never be another ballplayer quite like him. On Friday night, just take it all in with a little bit of awe. It doesn't get much better than this.
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