The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night to advance to the World Series, and did so behind a historic Shohei Ohtani outing.
Ohtani was not only the Dodgers’ starting pitcher for Game 4 of the NLCS, but was batting leadoff. After allowing a walk against the first batter he faced, Ohtani struck out three batters in a row.
After changing from his pitching to batting gear, Ohtani hit a leadoff home run 446 feet on the sixth pitch he saw. Ohtani the pitcher collected three more strikeouts, and once he was due up to bat again in the fourth, clobbered a home run 469 feet, exiting Dodger Stadium.
Well, according to Statcast’s measurement, the ball traveled 469 feet, but according to All-Star slugger Max Muncy, that figure is incorrect.
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“You guys asked me yesterday and I said I was expecting nothing short of incredible today,” Muncy said. “And he proved me wrong. He went beyond incredible. I don’t know what I saw today. That was beyond incredible. The first home run, I didn’t think he could top that, then he hits one literally out of the stadium. … It went over the roof, which means it came really close to hitting the scoreboard. I’ve played a lot of games here. I’ve never seen a ball go that far. I know Statcast said 460 feet, but Statcast is wrong. That ball was at least 500 feet.
“That’s the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit,” Muncy said. “I’ve seen a lot of games here at Dodger Stadium and that’s not even close. It’s the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit.”
Ohtani’s first home run had a exit velocity of 116.5, and the ball that left the stadium had a speed of 116.9 mph. The three-time (and soon to be four-time) MVP wasn’t done quite yet.
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Ohtani continued to get his strikeout total up to 10 through six scoreless innings, and in the seventh inning, he slugged another home run, this one going 427 feet, per Statcast.
The greatness of Ohtani has been realized for quite some time now, but Friday’s performance was generational. Regardless of how far Ohtani’s homer really went, the Dodgers are back in the World Series thanks to his brilliance.
For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.
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