Shohei Ohtani: Not only a GOAT but a unicorn

Since Shohei Ohtani first arrived in the majors in 2018, the two-way star has been heralded as a modern-day Babe Ruth, baseball’s lone reference point for a dual threat of his magnitude.

No longer.

It took nearly a century, but Ruth’s tenure as the game’s sepia-toned benchmark is officially over.

There  now is Ohtani. And everyone else.

You can throw out the season, decade or era. While that’s not necessarily a new development, Ohtani’s three-homer, 10-strikeout pitching performance Friday night in the Dodgers’ pennant-clinching 5-1 victory over the Brewers put the stamp on it.

Ohtani isn’t this generation’s Babe Ruth. He’s One of One,  meaning what we’re witnessing now from this baseball unicorn not only has never happened before but is highly unlikely to ever be repeated (unless it’s by Ohtani himself).

“Sometimes you’ve got to check yourself and touch him,” teammate Freddie Freeman said, “to make sure he’s not just made of steel.”

That’s because Ohtani’s Game 4 performance was more cyborg than human, a supernatural phenomenon that no one at Chavez Ravine, whether in the stands or the dugouts, had ever experienced.

After six scoreless innings, when the first two Brewers reached in the seventh, manager Dave Roberts had the unfortunate responsibility of closing the curtain.

As Ohtani walked off the mound to a standing ovation after allowing only two hits, the stadium organist played the title track from “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

He became the 12th player to hit three home runs in a postseason game. Dozens have whiffed at least 10 in a playoff start. No one had ever combined the two, during the regular season or the October tournament.

And just because it’s Ohtani, he struck out three in the top of the first, homered to lead off the bottom of the inning and kept the Brewers off the scoreboard entirely while pitching, personally padding the Dodgers' lead along the way. With a trip to the World Series on the line.

“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” Roberts said. “There’s been a lot of postseason games. And there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet.

“What he did on the mound, what he did at the bat, he created a lot of memories for a lot of people. To do it in a clinching game at home, wins the NLCS MVP, pretty special. I’m just happy to go along for the ride.”

Only twice before had players hit three homers during a game in which they were pitching, according to MLB stat guru Sarah Langs. In 1942, Jim Tobin did it for Boston’s National League franchise on May 13 and even went nine innings — but with zero strikeouts. Before him, it was in 1886, during President Grover Cleveland’s administration — the same year the gasoline-powered car was invented — when Guy Hecker performed the feat for the Louisville Colonels.

I couldn’t track down Hecker’s pitching stats for that Aug. 15 game, but that’s not really all that relevant. Also, Hecker did it at Louisville’s Eclipse Park (capacity 5,000), so we can agree the stage was somewhat smaller than what Ohtani is typically used to.

Another consideration: As far as spotlights go, Ohtani has no peer in North American pro sports. He’s more on par with international soccer megastars, who are the primary focus of their entire home countries. His every move is chronicled by a Japanese media contingent that can climb to more than 100 reporters on occasion, in addition to the Dodgers’ regular beat coverage.

Yet Ohtani seems unfazed by any of the noise around him. He’s a lock for his third straight MVP award this year and fourth in five seasons (Ohtani finished second to Aaron Judge in 2022 as a member of the Angels).

And speaking of Judge, Ohtani wasn’t having a very productive October at the plate before Friday, hitting .158 (6-for-38) with two homers, six RBIs, 17 strikeouts and a .641 OPS through his first nine playoff games.

“This time around, it was my turn to be able to perform,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “And I think just looking back over the course of the entire postseason, I haven’t performed up to the expectations.”

But among Othani’s many tools is a flair for the dramatic as well as an uncanny knack for the spectacular. His leadoff homer against Brewers starter Jose Quintana traveled 446 feet into the rightfield bleachers. The longest of the trio was the 469-foot blast off Chad Patrick that cleared the roof of that same section, prompting his teammates to  stare wide-eyed  and slack-jawed in disbelief.

“Those are big-leaguers doing that,” TBS analyst Ron Darling said during the broadcast. “Those are Hall of Famers that are holding their heads because they’ve seen something they’ve never seen in their baseball life.”

And that was before Ohtani — who remained as the DH despite being removed as a pitcher (in accordance with the “Ohtani Rule”) — launched his third homer in the seventh inning off Trevor Megill, a rather pedestrian shot for him at a mere 427 feet.

All told, Ohtani accounted for 1,342 feet of home runs, which were the top three hardest-hit balls of the night at 116.5, 116.9 and 113.6 mph.

Ohtani also threw the five fastest pitches, with the top three registering at 100.3, 100.2 and 99.5 mph, according to baseballsavant.com. He became  the sixth player to hit three homers in a series-clinching win, joining teammate Enrique Hernandez, Adrian Beltre, Adam Kennedy, Reggie Jackson and  Babe Ruth. For the record, the Babe was playing leftfield in that title clincher for the Yankees.

“I really focused on, first and foremost, to make sure I’m an effective starting pitcher,” Ohtani said.

Mission accomplished. When it comes to the regular season, Ohtani has pretty much made the MVP vote obsolete, because as long as he’s healthy enough to both hit and pitch, there’s no one like him in the universe, much less the same ballot. What Ohtani regularly does over a six-month span, especially having to take the mound every fifth day or so, has no 21st century comp in the sporting world.

It’s like Patrick Mahomes throwing three  touchdown passes, but rather than sitting on the bench in between to study screenshots of the opposing defense, staying on the field and grabbing three interceptions as the free safety. Or making a dozen tackles as a middle linebacker.

Even that wouldn’t quite measure up, given baseball’s individual pitcher-hitter dynamic, which Ohtani somehow has mastered from both sides. In this age of ultra-specialization, it shouldn’t be happening here in the 21st century, and definitely not in October, when the competition level burns hottest.

“The inevitable kind of happened today — Shohei,” Freeman said  during the Dodgers’ on-field celebration. “Oh my God. I’m still speechless.”

What else is there to say? (Other than talking about what Ohtani might do for an encore.) And as impossible as that sounds, he doesn’t just play the game; he stretches the borders of our baseball imagination.

Only Ohtani could make his $700 million contract feel like the sport’s biggest bargain, and with the World Series scheduled to begin Friday, it’s going to be hard to wait a week to see what unbelievable thing he does next.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.