For six years, Shohei Ohtani was left on the outside looking in of Major League Baseball’s postseason. Much, if not all of that being due to the ineptitude of the Los Angeles Angels as an organization. In the most recent years when Ohtani was clearly the best player in the sport and during baseball’s most-watched time of the year, he was nowhere to be found.
But for the first time in Ohtani’s career, the two-time league MVP will be playing in the postseason when the Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, starting Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium. This is is huge — and not just for him.
Every sport should have its best players playing in the playoffs. The NBA without LeBron James, the NFL without Patrick Mahomes or the NHL without Connor McDavid would feel incomplete. Unfortunately, baseball has been unable to see its biggest superstar on its biggest stage.
To understand the importance of Ohtani’s presence in the postseason, you have to go back to a time before he was the best in the game. For years prior to Ohtani being widely touted as the best player in the world, his old teammate Mike Trout held that crown. Yet, as Ohtani would soon find out, Trout, despite having some of the best offensive seasons in recent memory, reached the postseason one time during the peak of his powers. And by the time he and Ohtani teammed up, they never finished higher than third place in the AL West even as one of the most talented duos the sport has ever seen.
Reaching the postseason was something of a forgone conclusion when he signed with the Dodgers last offseason. Now the dream of seeing the game’s best player in high-pressure, high-leverage situations is here and it’s exactly what everyone wants to see.
The 2024 regular season was one hell of a postseason preview for Ohtani, who exceeded even his lofty expectations in his first year in Dodger blue. He had the best offensive season of his career, nearly winning the Triple Crown and became the founding member of the 50/50 club. He’s a driving force in a talented L.A. lineup, taking over as the team’s leadoff man when Mookie Betts broke his hand earlier in the season.
There are a handful of players who have the ability to rise to the occasion when big moments present themselves and Ohtani has shown that he is one of those players. And there’s no better place than the postseason to have that ability on full display.
When he closed for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic last season, you saw it. When the world watched as he was a homer shy of 50-50, he homered almost as if he knew the eyes of the world were on him and added another homer for good measure. Even the mystique of him potentially returning from his torn UCL to pitch in postseason, while it might not happen, the fact that it isn’t a non-zero chance adds only more intrigue.
In his first taste of the postseason, any casting of his legacy being tarnished or on the line without a deep Dodgers run would be extremely hyperbolic. But if he performs well, it would add to an already lengthy résumé and the aura of who he has become as a player. And it’s not just something done for Ohtani.
Historically, players who perform or don’t perform in the postseason are viewed in a different light despite their achievements. Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols would all be Hall of Famers without ever sniffing the postseason, but the fact that they were great there only bolsters their legends.
Conversely, Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of his generation, yet for much of his long and storied career, his lack of success in the postseason becomes part of his story.
For now, Ohtani has a clean slate and the chapter on his postseason legacy is unwritten. This month gives him an opportunity to continue his trek toward becoming one of baseball’s immortals if he succeeds.
Now the world waits.
