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David Levine -> RE: MLB General Information PT 4 (10/20/2025 11:21:14 AM)
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ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen
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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson
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ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen
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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson
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ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen
By comparison, a minor fun fact: Ohtani didn’t just hit three homers -- he crushed them, at exit velocities of 116.5 mph, 116.9 mph and 113.6 mph. He became the first player with multiple home runs of at least 116 mph in any regular season or postseason game under Statcast (2015). Again, in a game he pitched.
There is no single superlative to describe Ohtani. He starts the 1st inning by striking out three (one walk). Hurries to put on all the hitter garb/protection. Leads off the bottom of the first by jacking a HR.
He said he wasn't batting well and had a batting practice at Dodgers Stadium. The results were obvious.
He was great. Awesome talent. Generational player.
Don't all players have batting practice before every game?
Far more than a generational player. He's in the conversation for GOAT, and it's a slim list.
The batting practice was an off schedule thing he decided to do. Read he never does that. He misses some batting-related things like meetings for games he pitches.
If he can keep his arm healthy, he could be GOAT.
Babe Ruth 714 HRs 94 Wins and miniscule ERA
2.28 ERA. Ruth pitched during the dead-ball era, then transitioned to hitting full time during the live-ball era. So he really benefitted before and after that major change. In the small sample size where he pitched in the live-ball era, he was lit up. 27 innings, 17 earned runs, etc.
Not comparing eras that are 100 years apart, but that was a monumental series of rule changes in 1920.
The MLB "dead-ball era" refers to a period roughly from 1900 to 1920, characterized by low-scoring games and a scarcity of home runs. This was caused by factors such as using a single, worn-out ball for an entire game, which became softer and harder to see, and legal but difficult-to-hit spitballs. Other contributing factors included rules like the foul strike rule and changes in park dimensions. The era ended suddenly around 1920 due to rule changes, like the ban on foreign substances on balls after a player's death, which made the ball livelier and easier to hit.
1. Three homers on the October stage
Don’t even bother asking: Has any team’s starting pitcher ever mashed three home runs in one postseason game? That’s hilarious. Of course no pitcher has ever had a three-homer game in any postseason.
Or even a two-homer game.
Perhaps this would put those three long balls in better perspective: Only two starting pitchers have ever even hit two postseason home runs in their entire careers: Bob Gibson (in 1964 and ’68) and Dave McNally (in 1966 and ’74).
So friends, seeing as how all pitchers not named Ohtani aren’t even allowed near a bat rack anymore, that’s a record that will never be broken.
Unless Ohtani breaks it!
2. Even Babe Ruth never did this
Once upon a time, back in the early days of Ohtani history, you might remember how it was fashionable to call him a modern-day Babe Ruth, or something like that. Well, wasn’t that cute.
The Babe pitched in 166 games in his career, counting the postseason — and only once in all those games did he even hit two homers in a game. That was on June 13, 1921, as a Yankee. You know how many strikeouts he totaled on the mound that day? That would be one.
So the closest I could come to connecting the dots from Babe to Ohtani was this: According to my friends from STATS Perform, only three players have ever hit three home runs in a regular-season game and even thrown a pitch in a postseason game:
Babe Ruth
Jim Tobin*
Shohei Ohtani
*Tobin was the only pitcher in the modern era to homer three times in a game (on May 13, 1942) … until Friday!
7. A career in one night
Finally, here’s one more history lesson. Would you believe that Willie Mays never hit two home runs (or more) in a postseason game? Neither did Henry Aaron, Mark McGwire, Mike Schmidt or Ken Griffey Jr.
Meanwhile, Bob Feller never struck out 10 hitters (or more) in a postseason game. Neither did Juan Marichal, Jack Morris or Christy Mathewson.
But have we mentioned that a superhero named Ohtani just did both on the same night?
That inspired STATS’ Greg Harvey to compile this staggering list of all the players in history who have had a multi-homer game and a double-digit strikeout game in their postseason career:
Shohei Ohtani.
Who just did both of those … in the same game.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6728157/2025/10/18/shohei-ohtani-world-series-greatest-postseason-game/
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