The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series bound.
Leading 3-0 in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Milwaukee Brewers – who had the best regular season record in baseball – an all-time performance from two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani punched the Dodgers’ ticket to the 2025 World Series.
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Ohtani blasted 3 HRs from 3 ABs as the Dodgers punched their ticket to the 2025 World SeriesCredit: Getty
As the starting pitcher, Ohtani delivered 10 strikeouts, two hits and no runs in six innings.
But the 28-year-old was also the Dodgers’ leadoff batter, and in three at-bats at the plate, he hit three home-runs, making MLB history by becoming the first player ever to hit three home-runs and record 10-plus strikeouts, few hits and zero runs in the same game.
In fact, only 12 hitters have reached the three homer mark in a post-season game, while only 26 pitchers have recorded such numbers on the mound.
As such, this has seen many call Ohtani one of the greatest players in the history of baseball of late.
However, Baseball Hall of Famer and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter – who was roasted by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts over his team’s 2003 World Series loss – hushed down this hype-up of the Japanese enigma.
“You can’t say he’s the greatest player ever, because he has to have a longer career; you have to do this for a long time,” Jeter said during MLB on FOX’s pregame show on Sunday.
“We’ve had Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and a lot of players come through this game.
“But I think you can say he has the greatest toolset of any player that we’ve seen.”
It was only last season when Ohtani made MLB history by being the first – and so far only – player to be part of the 50-50 club, having hit over 50 home runs and stolen over 50 bases, finishing with a then-career-high 54 homers and 59 stolen bases.
In 2025, he marked his return to the mound – and the first time sporting Dodger Blue – after sitting the year pitching as he continued to rehab from his Tommy John surgery in 2023.
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Ohtani’s historic night on the mound and at the plate secured the Dodgers’ return to the World SeriesCredit: Getty
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Jeter has hushed the hype of Ohtani ahead of the World SeriesCredit: Getty
This season saw the four-time All-Star hit a career-high 55 regular season home runs, while he had 14 trips to the mound, in which he had 62 strikeouts, and allowed just 40 hits and 15 runs as he posted his best ERA (2.87) since the 2022 campaign.
Ohtani continues to draw Babe Ruth comparisons
But throughout the post-season, Ohtani had been quiet, have recorded just two home runs, six RBI’s, six hits and one stolen base through the Dodgers’ first nine post-season games.
However, superstars shine on the biggest occasions, and Ohtani’s historic Game 4 performance to single-handedly eliminate the Brewers from the post-season mightily impressed Yankees icon Alex Rodrigued.
“It reminds me of 1977, when Reggie Jackson hit those three home runs,” Alex Rodriguez added.
“There’s probably three million people out there saying, ‘I was at that game,’ but that’s impossible. There are only 54,000 seats. The same will be said about Game 4 at Dodger Stadium.
“Simply said: right now, he is the most impactful and the best athlete on planet earth.”
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Babe Ruth was the first of his kind – a two-way star who both pitched and battedCredit: Getty
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Shohei Ohtani is still in the prime of his career, but when he eventually calls time, he may well be viewed as greater than RuthCredit: Getty
Ohtani’s dominance as the league’s only pure two-way star has also seen him draw comparisons to that of baseball icon Babe Ruth, who set the league alight in the 1910s, ’20s and ’30s.
But a video from ’60 Minutes’ has since resurfaced before Ohtani reached the MLB in 2017, where he spoke about the comparisons between himself and Ruth.
“He’s like a mythical character to me. Because it’s such a long time ago, and he was god to baseball. I shouldn’t be compared to him, at least not right now,” Ohtani said.
Now over 100 years on, and former Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, who berated his colleague Rodriguez over the Yankees’ epic loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS and joined in the taunting with Blue Jays star Vladdy Guerrero Jr., is thrilled to be witnessing the greatness that is Ohtani before his very own eyes.
“None of us were around when Babe Ruth was doing his thing,” Big Papi said. “But I’m so happy I was born in this era right here so I can watch greatness.”
“We’ve used to, no matter what sport it is, say that was a ‘Ruthian’ effort — are we getting to the point that we’re going to say ‘Ohtanian’ feat?” That’s how good he is,” Rodriguez added. “Really, there is no comp.”
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Ohtani has yet to taste defeat in an MLB postseasonCredit: Getty
“We are watching greatness right here,” Big Papi added. “Watching this guy hitting and pitching in our era, our lifetime, I don’t care what anybody says, this is the fun to watch.”
In just his second ever post-season with the Dodgers, having failed to reach the playoffs in any of his six seasons when with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani now has the chance to add a second World Series ring to his résumé.
By the time his career is all said and done, maybe the parity between him and Ruth will be much closer, and only then, might Ohtani look back and allow the comparisons to be drawn.
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