Shohei Ohtani hits a home run in his second ever postseason at bat

The legend of Shohei Ohtani continues. On Saturday, the heavy favourite for the 2024 National League Most Valuable Player Award hit his first ever postseason home run in his second ever postseason at bat in a 7-5 Los Angeles Dodgers win over the San Diego Padres. In Ohtani’s six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, he never played in the postseason.

Ohtani’s dinger was a 372 foot blast to right field after he flew out to left field in the first inning. It scored catcher Will Smith of Louisville, Kentucky and second baseman Gavin Lux of Kenosha, Wisconsin. At the time, the Ohtani homer tied the game at three in the bottom of the second inning.

Ohtani’s remarkable season

Ohtani led the National League this year with 54 home runs, 130 runs batted in, a .390 on base percentage, and .646 slugging percentage. He also led the Major Leagues with 134 runs and 411 total bases. Ohtani also had 59 stolen bases (second in the Major Leagues), and had 197 hits, 38 doubles, seven triples, 81 walks, a batting average of .310 (second in the National League), and five sacrifice flies.

Who else hit a home run for a winning team on Saturday?

There were two more players who hit a home run for a winning team on Saturday as the four league divisional series begun. They were Cleveland Guardians centerfielder Lane Thomas of Knoxville, Tennessee, who hit a three-run 394 foot blast in the bottom of the first inning in a 7-0 Guardians win over the Detroit Tigers. The other was from New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres of Caracas, Venezuela, who hit a two-run 339 foot home run in the bottom of the third inning in a 6-5 Yankees win over the Kansas City Royals.

Mets have big eighth inning

Also on Saturday, the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 thanks to a big eighth inning. After Zack Wheeler was sensational after seven innings, Phillies manager Rob Thomson made the huge mistake in going to his bullpen. The Mets batters had no problem with Phillies relievers Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm, and seemed to have significant confidence as a team when Wheeler came out.