PHILADELPHIA — It’s time for Superman to put on his cape.
“I think everyone has been waiting for this moment – just like last year everyone was waiting for the moment for him to get his first postseason at-bat. It’s the same this year,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said of the anticipation for Shohei Ohtani’s postseason pitching debut in Game 1 of the Dodgers’ National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
“I keep saying – he keeps getting put in these spots where you’re expecting something incredible. And very, very rarely does he disappoint. This is a hard sport to do this kind of stuff. But very rarely are you, ‘Ah, that was a letdown.’”
The Dodgers can’t afford a letdown from Ohtani – or any of their starting pitchers. With the Phillies able to match the Dodgers’ offensive firepower and volatility lurking whenever the Dodgers make a call to the bullpen, the Dodgers will rely heavily on their starting pitchers to take them as far as they can go this postseason.
“Our starting pitching is going to be what carries us.” Muncy agreed. “We’re obviously going to be asking a lot of those guys. But it’s also why we brought all those guys in. It’s what we expect of them and I think they’re definitely up to the task. They’ve proven that the last however many months that we’ve had a healthy rotation.
“It’s kind of a different script than the way we’ve gone into this the last however many years. Really you go back to ’21 maybe is the last time we’ve had three good, healthy starting pitchers (in the postseason). Every other year after that, we had our guy that we liked and then it was kind of mix and match from there. This is the first time that I can remember in a long time where you could pick a name out of a hat and feel good about him going out there.”
The Dodgers have reached into the hat and picked Ohtani to start Game 1 against the Phillies after holding him in reserve for a Game 3 in the Wild Card Series that was not necessary.
“Just really looking forward to it,” Ohtani said Friday through his interpreter.
“I’m sure I’ll be nervous at times. But more than that, I’m just really grateful that I get to play baseball at this time of the year.”
That he is playing two-way baseball at full strength at this time of the year is exactly what the Dodgers were aiming for when they cautiously brought him back to pitching. It wasn’t until September that Ohtani declared he was “out of rehab mode” on the mound. In three starts last month, he did not allow a run over 14⅔ innings – including five no-hit innings in a start against the Phillies three weeks ago.
“A couple weeks ago was probably his best start of the year. He was phenomenal,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s the combination of power and control, command, stuff. He was really good. He was pumping strikes and it was 98, 99 (mph). And the secondary pitches are all way above-average. So if he’s doing that, it’s a tough task.”
Ohtani said he was “very glad that I was able to end the rehab progression at that moment.” But the Phillies were missing both Trea Turner and Alec Bohm due to injuries at that point.
“I’m sure there’s pros and cons on both sides as a pitcher and hitters facing me (so recently),” Ohtani said. “Having the history provides a little more context. We’re going to find out tomorrow.”
Game 2 starter Blake Snell also faced the Phillies during that September series in L.A. and was dominant. He allowed just two hits over seven scoreless innings.
But the Dodgers lost two of the three games thanks to bullpen breakdowns. The Phillies scored 14 runs in 10⅓ innings against Dodgers relievers during that series.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is amply motivated to extend his starters as long as possible. He already pushed Snell into the seventh inning of Game 1 against the Cincinnati Reds and asked Yoshinobu Yamamoto to throw a season-high 113 pitches in Game 2.
“I think it’s all contingent on how they’re throwing the baseball,” Roberts said. “I think it’s easy to say that they’re our most talented arms on the staff. So obviously with that, you want them throwing the majority of the innings, pitches.”