Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citi Field on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 in New York, New York.
History remembers the October heroes over the regular season Joes. Six months of mediocrity is expunged with one swing in the postseason. Just ask Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson.
But whether it’s Jackson, or Derek Jeter, Madison Bumgarner or Joc Pederson, players that can perform on the game’s biggest stage, undisturbed and undeterred by the big moments, shining bright like a light, and gleaming like a gem, these are the legends that people remember long after the final out has been recorded.
Kiké Hernández is one of those players. Walker Buehler is also one of those players, and their teammate, Shohei Ohtani, playing in his first-ever postseason, would like to become one of those players.
Hernández and Ohtani both hit homers in the Big Apple on Wednesday, powering the Los Angeles Dodgers past the New York Mets 8-0 in Game 3 of the National League Champions Series, for a 2-1 series lead.
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"That was huge. It was enormous," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts of the home runs from Hernández and Ohtani. "Kiké's homer allowed Shohei [Ohtani] to kind of catch a breath and extend the lead, and Max [Muncy] had a huge game and continues to get big hits, but Kiké's homer, that was the biggest hit of the game."
Relegated to the bench from spring to fall, Hernández turns into Hank Aaron when the calendar turns to October. His 15th career postseason homer now puts him into a tie with Babe Ruth for 10th on the all-time list, and sixth among active players. He's just two shy of David Ortiz and three behind the aforementioned Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson.
"I like Halloween," joked Hernández of why he performs at his best in the postseason.
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#POSTSEASON KIKÉ STRIKES AGAIN 💥 pic.twitter.com/8X8jNpBzqR
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2024
Hernández's OPS in the postseason during away games is a whopping 1.077, fourth on the all-time list behind Carlos Beltran, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig.
"I do a lot of visualization at night, the night before the games, and I try to put myself in every position, every situation that you can come up with during the game. I visualize myself having success over and over against their entire pitching staff and things like that," said Hernandez about his postseason success. "But also the fact that I've had a pretty good track record in October. I can't help it but bring me confidence. And it just makes you believe that you take your game to another level. I try to take it one game at a time, and I'm glad that I was able to contribute to the win tonight."
Meanwhile, Ohtani’s first taste of the postseason has looked paltry compared to his historic regular season. The soon-to-be NL MVP, who had 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases during the 2024 campaign, was batting .222 with just one home run and no stolen bases in the postseason entering Game 3.
The narrative after the Dodgers 7-3 loss in Game 2, was that Ohtani was like Barry Bonds or Aaron Judge before him; great in the regular season, but a shell of themselves come October.
Maybe it’s not a coincidence that Judge hit his first homer of the playoffs in NYC on Tuesday, because Ohtani took a bite out of the Big Apple with his mammoth blast on Wednesday.
SHOHEI OHTANI SENDS THIS BASEBALL TO A DIFFERENT PLANET 🚀 pic.twitter.com/9PRfNF0d3S
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2024
"I don't know why people are talking about Shohei's struggles," said teammate Mookie Betts of Ohtani. "He's the best player on the field every day. Oh, he hasn't gotten a hit without runners on base, who cares! It's Shoehei Ohtani. Everyone knows who he is. Every time he steps into the box, everyone expects something good to happen and I think that's the problem. He's done it so many times that you expect it, and when he's a human for 20 at-bats, people worry. It's Shohei Ohtani, he'll be fine."
Betts is correct, but the strange correlation between Ohtani's performance with runners on base compared to not is one of the more bewildering, and head-scratching stats in the 2024 playoffs.
With runners on base, Ohtani has 17 hits in his last 20 at-bats. That's the most hits by any MLB player over any span of 20 at-bats with RISP in the last 50 years, regular or postseason.
However, when there are no runners on base, Ohtani is 0-for-22, put a runner in scoring position and he becomes a UPS driver, he always delivers.
"What I really focus on is how I play at the plate. If I'm feeling good and the results aren't there, then I'm not too concerned because there's luck involved," said Ohtani through a translator of the difference in performance with runners on base and without. "Again, this is my first experience in the postseason, so I can't really rely on the experiences or my reflection in the past. But what I do know is that we've been playing against good teams, better teams, with their best pitchers. So being able to get base hits, put up results isn't as easy maybe as it could be. And so with that being said, my focus really is on just whatever happened in the previous game, that's it. And I'm really focused on the next game and something that perhaps I would reflect back once everything is over."
Both teams had their chances in Game 3. They left a combined 16 men on base, but whereas the Mets missed out on all their opportunities, the fortuitous Dodgers cashed in with three big swings.
"We are creating traffic. I like the fact that we are getting guys on base. Just haven't been able to come up with a big hit but I'll continue to take my chances with guys," said Mets' manager Carlos Mendoza. "As long as we continue to create traffic, somebody's going to come up and get that big one for us."
The Dodgers found themselves on the receiving end of some bad defense in the top of the second inning.
Max Muncy, led off with a walk, Teoscar Hernandez reached on a fielder’s choice that bounced off Jose Iglesias glove, and the Dodgers scored their first run thanks to back to back comebackers to the pitcher that were mishandled. Tommy Edman followed with a sac fly that gave the Dodgers a two-run lead.
Will and Tommy bring 'em in! pic.twitter.com/nVvvZ9FKfQ
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 17, 2024
"We didn't make a couple of plays, obviously. Weak ground ball to Alvie, it's a bang-bang play at second base. I don't know if Iglesias would have caught that ball, he would be out. Maybe tried to do a little too much there," added Mendoza of the bad defense in the second inning. "And then obviously Sevy couldn't make that play on that comebacker, potential double play. We only get one out. So when you're giving a team like this extra outs, extra bases, they're going to make you pay."
Buehler darted and danced his way out of danger all night, like a man avoiding a swarm of hornets. After loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the second inning, Buehler struck out back-to-back hitters, including Mets’ MVP Francisco Lindor, to end the threat.
Walker Buehler strikes out Francisco Lindor to get out of a bases-loaded jam 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/Jk3ch2cR4a
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2024
"That was the pitch of the game," said Roberts. "The crowd was in it, they were gaining momentum. To get the breaking ball below the zone and get a great hitter out, was huge."
Buehler admitted that prior to his second Tommy John surgery in 2022, he would have probably thrown a fastball in that situation to Lindor.
"With 3-2 and the bases loaded, I have to throw a curveball now instead of a heater," said Buehler of how he's adapted as a pitcher following the surgery.
Buehler struck out six in four scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with two walks in his 17th career postseason start, second-most in Dodgers history behind only Clayton Kershaw with 32.
"We've been in the playoffs every year I've been here and healthy at least. And I've been very fortunate to get the ball," said Buehler of ranking second on the Dodgers all-time postseason starts list. "The trust thing or whatever, we kind of developed through the years to let me have the ball, this year it's kind of a pretty good example of that just because of the way the regular season went. But, yeah, it's a cool stat and a cool thing. But to me that's about our team."
Buehler also became the first pitcher in MLB history to throw 90 or more pitches in a a scoreless postseason start that only lasted four innings or less.
"Today was a good day for me and for our team. And sometimes I think they feel bigger than they are. Like, if we come out and play like shit tomorrow, we won't care about how we played today," said Buehler. "This is definitely a big momentum win for us. But if we don't do something with it, then it doesn't really matter a whole lot."
His counterpart, Mets’ right-hander Luis Severino, had a similar fate. After dancing with danger himself, he got out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the third, and exited the game with two outs in the 5th.
What followed was a battle of the bullpens. The Dodgers had plenty of relievers available at their disposal after a blowout in Game 1, and didn't use any of their high-leverage arms during a bullpen game on Monday. After an off day on Tuesday, the arms in the pen were fresh and invigorated like a breeze coming off the Hudson river.
Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen, and Ben Casparius combined to throw five shutout innings of relief, putting the Dodgers just two wins away from advancing to their fourth World Series in eight years.
"We just keep things simple," said Treinen of the bullpen's success. "The organization puts us in lanes to be successful. We've all kind of thrived on stepping up to the big stage. Obviously, we're facing some of the best hitters in baseball. The deeper you get, the hotter the team is and the better talent. There's no special formula. We just do more of what we trust ourselves to do."
Muncy added a home run late in the game, putting him into a three-way tie with Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the most home runs in Dodgers playoff history.
MAD MAX TO THE UPPER TANK 😮😳 pic.twitter.com/XgiasOex8W
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2024
"It's definitely a blessing," said Muncy of being atop that list with his former teammates. "I can't be thankful enough that I've had the opportunity to play enough games in the postseason to be able to accrue those numbers. For me, it's just a blessing to be on a team and organization that gets to the postseason each and every year."
Muncy's historic homer will make the play bill, but when the story of Game is retold many years from now, his name will not appear on the marquee. Instead it will be the heroics of Hernández and Ohtani that will be remembered. One of a veteran utility player who earns his paycheck in October, and the global superstar whose just opening his October account.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven NLCS is scheduled for Thursday, October 17th with first pitch scheduled for 5:08 PM PT.
