Shohei Ohtani picked up within the postseason proper the place he left off after another seemingly MVP common season — with a bang. Ohtani took his regular leadoff spot within the Dodgers’ lineup for Game 1 of their wild-card series in opposition to the Reds on Tuesday.
He labored Reds starter Hunter Greene to a 2-1 rely. Greene responded with a 100 mph fastball over the within nook of the plate. Ohtani turned on it and deposited a laser into the right-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium. It was the primary of two Ohtani home runs on the night time.
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ESPN’s Jon Sciambi barely had time to name the home run before it was over the wall for a 1-0 Dodgers lead.
There’s good motive. The home run was a first-of-its-kind. Or no less than a first-of-its-kind within the Statcast period.
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The ball left Ohtani’s bat at 117.7 mph and traveled 375 toes on a line drive. That’s the quickest home run hit off a 100-plus-mph pitch — by rather a lot — since Statcast began monitoring such stats in 2015.
Per MLB Stats, then-Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers beforehand held the excellence with a 113.7-mph blast off a 100-mph Gerrit Cole fastball in opposition to the Yankees on June 27, 2021. Ohtani’s exit velocity Tuesday bested Devers’ by a full 4 mph.
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Ohtani’s home run can also be one of the toughest hit of any form within the postseason within the Statcast period. Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, solely Kyle Schwarber, Giancarlo Stanton and Ohtani himself have hit more durable playoff home runs since 2015.
And he wasn’t accomplished. Ohtani’s leadoff blast sparked the Dodgers to a 6-0 lead within the sixth inning. He added two extra runs with a moon shot deep into the right-field stands to prolong the Dodgers lead to 8-0.
This one wasn’t hit fairly as exhausting. It left his bat at 113.5 mph. He’s now the second participant in Statcast historical past to hit two 113-plus mph home runs in the identical postseason recreation.
And the no-doubt dinger traveled 454 feet.
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The home run was the fifth of the night time for the Dodgers. Teoscar Hernández additionally hit two for the second time in Dodgers postseason history that two gamers had multi-home run video games.
It all provides up to a stellar begin to Ohtani’s postseason. At this level, we should not anticipate something much less.