It’s finally Sho’ Time for Shohei Ohtani after 6 years without a postseason appearance
For six years, Shohei Ohtani was left on the outside looking in of Major League Baseball’s postseason. Much, if not all of that being due to the ineptitude of the Los Angeles Angels as an organization. In the most recent years when Ohtani was clearly the best player in the sport and during baseball’s most-watched time of the year, he was nowhere to be found.
But for the first time in Ohtani’s career, the two-time league MVP will be playing in the postseason when the Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, starting Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium. This is is huge — and not just for him.
Every sport should have its best players playing in the playoffs. The NBA without LeBron James, the NFL without Patrick Mahomes or the NHL without Connor McDavid would feel incomplete. Unfortunately, baseball has been unable to see its biggest superstar on its biggest stage.
To understand the importance of Ohtani’s presence in the postseason, you have to go back to a time before he was the best in the game. For years prior to Ohtani being widely touted as the best player in the world, his old teammate Mike Trout held that crown. Yet, as Ohtani would soon find out, Trout, despite having some of the best offensive seasons in recent memory, reached the postseason one time during the peak of his powers. And by the time he and Ohtani teammed up, they never finished higher than third place in the AL West even as one of the most talented duos the sport has ever seen.
Reaching the postseason was something of a forgone conclusion when he signed with the Dodgers last offseason. Now the dream of seeing the game’s best player in high-pressure, high-leverage situations is here and it’s exactly what everyone wants to see.
The 2024 regular season was one hell of a postseason preview for Ohtani, who exceeded even his lofty expectations in his first year in Dodger blue. He had the best offensive season of his career, nearly winning the Triple Crown and became the founding member of the 50/50 club. He’s a driving force in a talented L.A. lineup, taking over as the team’s leadoff man when Mookie Betts broke his hand earlier in the season.
There are a handful of players who have the ability to rise to the occasion when big moments present themselves and Ohtani has shown that he is one of those players. And there’s no better place than the postseason to have that ability on full display.
When he closed for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic last season, you saw it. When the world watched as he was a homer shy of 50-50, he homered almost as if he knew the eyes of the world were on him and added another homer for good measure. Even the mystique of him potentially returning from his torn UCL to pitch in postseason, while it might not happen, the fact that it isn’t a non-zero chance adds only more intrigue.
