Game 3 between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night tied the record for the longest game in World Series history, stretching all the way to the 18th inning before first baseman Freddie Freeman walked it with a solo home run to give the Dodgers a 6-5 victory and a 2-1 series lead.
The match itself was historic, but Shohei Ohtani’s performance was one for the record books as the two-time star continues to rewrite history every time he takes the field.
Following his latest feat in which he reached a career-high nine and became the second player in MLB history with four extra-base hits in a World Series game (Frank Isbell, 1906), ESPN insider Jeff Passan couldn’t compliment the two-way star enough during a Tuesday appearance on “Get Up.”
Jeff Passan was blown away by Shohei Ohtani’s excellence
“If you want to say this is the most talented player in baseball history, you’re not wrong,” Passan said. “If you want to call him the greatest player in baseball history, there’s a very good argument. But the great thing about Shohei Ohtani is that just when you think he can’t do something, he turns around and does it.”
In Monday night’s game alone, Ohtani went 4-for-4 with two home runs, two doubles and five walks, four of which were intentional. Before Monday night, no player had ever reached base more than six times in a postseason game and Ohtani did so nine times.
Ohtani is so feared when he steps to the plate that Toronto intentionally walked him with the bases empty, and he became the first player to intentionally walk multiple times in the World Series.
As sensational as Ohtani was on Monday night, such a performance on the big stage is certainly nothing new. After all, he put on perhaps the greatest game ever played in Game 4 of the NLCS when he pitched six innings of shutout baseball, striking out 10 and hitting three home runs.
Ohtani’s ability to play at his best when the stakes are highest is something that really impresses Passan, especially considering we didn’t see him in action until the postseason when he joined the Dodgers.
“The limitations don’t exist with him, and the great thing about Shohei Ohtani is that he steps up in these big moments,” Passan continued. “We didn’t see it with the Los Angeles Angels because they never made the playoffs when he was there. But in just two years with the Dodgers, the mark he left on that organization, on Major League Baseball and on his career and legacy is innumerable.”
As if the historic night in Game 3 wasn’t enough, Ohtani is scheduled to start in Game 4 on Tuesday night as the Dodgers look to put the Blue Jays on the brink of elimination.
It’s just the latest sign of his greatness and why he’s already considered the best to ever play the game. At just 31 years old, Ohtani still has much of his career ahead of him, giving him more time to add some historic moments to a career already full of them.
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