Shohei Ohtani had a historic game in what ended up being a legendary Game 3 of the 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers ultimately prevailed with a 6-5 victory thanks to a walk-off homer by Freddie Freeman in the 18th inning, but not after multiple heroic performances from the pitching staff, most notably Will Klein.
If not for Ohtani, the Dodgers would have lost far earlier in the game, as he did his best to carry the offense early. He went 4-for-4 at the plate with two home runs to start the game, and from that point on, the Blue Jays intentionally walked him four times and walked him once more by throwing four pitches out of the zone.
Ohtani’s second home run of the game was his eighth home run this postseason, which tied Corey Seager for the Dodgers franchise record for the most in a single postseason. Seager hit his eight homers during their 2020 World Series run, which concluded with him winning World Series MVP.
Ohtani also became the first player in MLB history with three multi-homer games in a single postseason.
In addition, Ohtani became the first player in postseason history to reach base seven times in a single game, and he ended up reaching nine times to extend his record. That also tied an MLB record, as nine times is the most a player has ever reached base in the regular season or a postseason game.
The only other players to reach base nine times in a single game are Max Carey (July 7, 1922), Johnny Burnett (July 10, 1932) and Stan Hack (Aug. 9, 1942).
Ohtani was also the first player to be intentionally walked four times in a single postseason game, and he’s one of two players in history to be intentionally walked with the bases empty in the postseason, joining Albert Pujols in 2011. Ohtani was intentionally walked three times with the bases empty, while Pujols was walked just once.
He was also the first player with four extra-base hits in a postseason game since 1906.
Shohei Ohtani starting Game 4 for Dodgers
Game 3 began at 5:10 p.m. on Monday, and ended around 11:50 p.m. After the celebration and postgame obligations, players did not leave the stadium until Tuesday.
Ohtani is scheduled to start Game 4, and usually in those situations, the next day’s starter would have went back home or to the hotel to rest for the following game. But Ohtani remained in the game to hit, and he’s still in line to start Tuesday’s game.
After the game, Ohtani said he wants to get to sleep as soon as possible, but would be ready to start the game.
“Shohei’s game, I hope we don’t lose sight of our starting pitcher tomorrow got on base nine times tonight,” Freeman said.
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