Exactly one year ago, Shohei Ohtani walked into Dodger Stadium hitting .103 over his last seven games — dropped to sixth in the lineup the day before — and proceeded to throw six scoreless innings, strike out 10 Brewers, and hit three home runs. It was October 17, 2025, Game 4 of the NLCS. No player in baseball history, regular season or playoffs, had ever put up both of those lines in the same game.
What he did that night had no precedent.
The Numbers
His three home runs traveled a combined 1,342 feet: 446, 469, and 427 feet. The middle one — 469 feet — cleared Dodger Stadium entirely. Only Willie Stargell and Kyle Schwarber, both left-handed like Ohtani, had done that in that ballpark before him.
On the mound, his 100 pitches were his highest total since returning from Tommy John surgery in June 2025.
The Records
- According to ESPN Research, Ohtani became the first pitcher in baseball history to hit a leadoff home run in any game — regular season or playoffs.
- According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, he became the first player ever to combine three home runs as a hitter and 10 or more strikeouts as a pitcher in the same game. Not just in the postseason — in all of baseball history.
All of it happened in front of 52,883 people in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 5-1. The series ended that night: a four-game sweep of Milwaukee, the first in an NLCS since 2019. The Brewers hit .118 for the series — the lowest team average in any postseason series of at least three games. Ohtani was named NLCS MVP, largely on the strength of that single night.
Why the Anniversary Hits Differently
The contrast with 2026 makes the memory sharper. This year, in the 2026 NLCS, Milwaukee swept Los Angeles 4-0 in the same round. Ohtani, limited by injuries, hit .182 in the series and didn’t throw a single inning. Same franchise, same opponent, opposite result.
One year separates the most dominant postseason version of Ohtani from a version that couldn’t take the mound at all. That’s what makes October 17, 2025 feel more vivid, not less. When someone combines 10 strikeouts and three home runs on the same playoff night — coming out of a .103 slump — you understand why the people who were there feel like they may never see anything like it again.
