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 actually 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, and 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 came in in relief of a wobbly Yoshinobu Yamamoto and combined for six scoreless innings, walking four batters but scattering just 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 even a stolen base despite serious doubts about whether he would be able to play.
“I was told there was a 1 percent 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 on Sept. 26 and spent the next eight days fighting to play in the postseason. When he spoke to the media on 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 on 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.'”
