Ohtani dazzles in playoff debut; Dodgers win G1
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani unleashed a mighty swing and flung his bat just as ferociously. For a brief moment, before making his way up the first-base line to commemorate his two-out, game-tying three-run homer in Saturday’s second inning, he even sauntered.
“I could really feel the intensity of the stadium before the game began,” Ohtani said through an interpreter, “and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
With one swing, Ohtani somehow met the enormous hype he carried into his postseason debut. And through nine innings, the buzz that surrounded a National League Division Series showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres lived up to its billing. It finished with a 7-5 Dodgers win in Game 1 in front of a sold-out crowd. Before that, there were lead changes and early runs, defensive gems and critical errors, tense jams and constant electricity.
The first jolt was provided by Ohtani.
“I don’t even try to explain him anymore,” Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen said. “Just watch and enjoy.”
Ohtani’s homer — a 118 mph line drive to right field on an elevated fastball by Padres right-hander Dylan Cease — came an inning after Manny Machado‘s two-run shot gave San Diego an early three-run lead.
After Xander Bogaerts gave the Padres the lead again on a third-inning two-run double, the Dodgers came back again in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with one out then jumping ahead on a wild pitch and a two-run single by Teoscar Hernandez.
A Dodgers bullpen that will be relied on heavily given the team’s starting-pitching woes took it from there. Ryan Brasier, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Treinen relieved a wobbly Yoshinobu Yamamoto and combined for six scoreless innings, walking four batters but scattering two hits.
The Padres made it interesting against Treinen in the ninth, putting runners on first and second with two outs to bring up Machado, whose throwing error paved the way for an insurance run in the fifth inning. With the count 1-2, Treinen unleashed a devastating sweeper that sailed way outside and past Machado’s bat for a game-ending strikeout.
“I talked about this for a few weeks: We need to fight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And that’s what we did tonight.”
The Dodgers have experienced major heartbreak the past two Octobers, earning first-round byes only to get eliminated in the NLDS by division rivals they thoroughly outplayed during the regular season. They went into this year’s postseason seeking a certain edge that can carry them against a Padres team that is healthier and more well-rounded, and the Dodgers received it from an assortment of players in Game 1.
It came from Treinen, who was asked to record five outs for the first time all year and delivered. It came from veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas, who played through a tear in an adductor muscle and made a nifty, over-the-shoulder catch with the Padres threatening in the eighth inning. It came from Gavin Lux, who recorded the second out of the ninth inning with a sprawling catch on a Luis Arraez liner. And it came from Freddie Freeman, who contributed two hits and a stolen base despite serious doubts about whether he would be able to play.
“I was told there was a 1% chance that Freddie was going to be able to play,” said Max Muncy, who would have replaced Freeman at first base. “I didn’t believe that.”
Freeman sprained his right ankle Sept. 26 and spent the next eight days fighting to play in the postseason. When he spoke to the media Friday afternoon, he said the ankle was “good enough” to start in Game 1. But Freeman said he “woke up feeling sore.” He told his oldest son, Charlie, on Saturday morning that he probably wouldn’t play then arrived at Dodger Stadium early and went through four hours of treatment.
Roughly three hours before game time, Freeman navigated through light defense and baserunning work on the field then went inside, hit off one of the Dodgers’ high-velocity pitching machines and inserted himself into the lineup.
“I don’t think anybody expected him to play,” Rojas said. “It was a borderline miracle.”
Ohtani’s performance has been nothing short of miraculous in recent weeks. It began Sept. 19, when he went 6-for-6 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases in the game that saw him clinch his first playoff berth and become the first member of the 50/50 club. Ohtani proceeded to navigate a 10-game run that saw him post a 1.853 OPS to finish the regular season. He struggled early on with runners in scoring position then slashed .577/.633/1.308 in that situation in September, at a time when the Dodgers’ division lead seemed in jeopardy.
To Dodgers players and coaches, it provided a snapshot for how Ohtani might handle his first taste of October. Then he delivered in his second at-bat, becoming the third player — along with Brooks Robinson in 1966 and Giancarlo Stanton in 2018 — to homer in his postseason debut.
“He injected an absolute lightning bolt into the stadium,” Muncy said of Ohtani. “And from then on it was like, ‘All right, we got this. We’re good.'”
The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.
The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.
Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.
Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.
Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.
Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.
The deal was first reported by Fansided.
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Alden Gonzalez
Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.
Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.
Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.
Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.
The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.
If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.
The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.
“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”
Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.
Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.
“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.
“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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