Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani took a powerful swing and threw the bat away with equal ferocity. In the second inning on Saturday, he wandered around unsteadily for a moment before stepping up to the first base line to commemorate the game-tying, three-run home run with two outs.
“I could feel the excitement in the stadium even before the game started, and it was a lot of fun,” Otani said through an interpreter.
With just one swing, Ohtani somehow lived up to the huge hype he brought to his postseason debut. And until the ninth inning, the buzz surrounding the National League Division Series showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres actually lived up to its expectations. Game 1 ended in a 7-5 Dodgers victory in front of a sold-out crowd. Before that, there were lead changes and early goals conceded, defensive gems and critical errors, and tense jams and constant electricity.
It was Otani who made the first impact.
“I don’t even want to explain him anymore,” Dodgers relief pitcher Blake Treinen said. “Just watch and enjoy.”
Ohtani’s home run, a 118 mph line drive off Padres right-hander Dylan Cease’s high fastball into the right field seats, came in the inning after Manny Machado’s two-run shot had given San Diego an early three-run lead. It came out.
Xander Bogaerts’ two-run double gave the Padres the lead again in the third inning, but the Dodgers came back in the bottom of the fourth inning, taking the lead with one out and the bases loaded on a wild pitch and two runs. Single by Teoscar Hernandez.
Given the team’s starting pitching woes, the Dodgers’ bullpen will be relied upon heavily. Ryan Brazier, Alex Bashear, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech, and Treinen came on in relief of a wobbly Yoshinobu Yamamoto, allowing no runs in the sixth inning, walking four batters, but allowing just two hits. It was a book.
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The Padres made an interesting play against Treinen in the 9th inning, putting Machado in with runners on first and second base with two outs, and his throwing error paved the way for an insurance run in the 5th inning. With the count 1-2, Treinen hit a powerful sweeper that flew wide and over Machado’s bat, resulting in a strikeout and ending the game.
“We’ve been talking about this for several weeks, we’re going to have to compete,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And that’s what we did tonight.”
The Dodgers have suffered major heartbreak the past two Octobers, earning a first-round bye but losing in the LDS to a division rival they thoroughly beat during the regular season. They entered this year’s postseason looking for some edge against a healthier, more balanced Padres team, and the Dodgers got it from their versatile roster in Game 1.
That came from Treinen, who was asked to record five outs for the first time this year, and he did just that. This was by veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas. He played through a torn adductor muscle and made a nifty over-the-shoulder catch in the eighth inning when the Padres threatened. It came from Gavin Lux, who sprawled off Luis Arraez’s liner in the bottom of the ninth inning for a double. And that came from Freddie Freeman, who contributed two hits and even stole a base, despite serious doubts about whether he could play.
“I was told there was a 1 percent chance that Freddie would play,” said Max Muncy, who will fill in for Freeman at first base. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Freeman sprained his right ankle on September 26 and spent the next eight days fighting for a postseason appearance. Speaking to the media Friday afternoon, Freeman said his ankle was “good enough” to start Game 1, but Freeman said he “woke up and felt pain.” On Saturday morning, he told his oldest son, Charlie, that he probably wouldn’t play and arrived early at Dodger Stadium for four hours of treatment.
Roughly three hours before game time, Freeman was on the field doing some light fielding and baserunning work, then entered the field, hit one of the Dodgers’ fast-pitching machines, and joined the lineup.
“I don’t think anyone expected him to play,” Rojas said. “It was a last-minute miracle.”
Ohtani’s performance over the past few weeks has been nothing short of miraculous. It started on September 19th, in which he went 6-for-6 with three home runs, 10 RBIs, and two stolen bases, earning him his first playoff berth and becoming the first member of the 50/50 club. Ohtani played well through 10 games and finished the regular season with an OPS of 1.853. He struggled early on with runners in scoring position, but in September he slashed .577/.633/1.308 in those situations, at a time when the Dodgers’ lead in the division was in jeopardy.
For Dodgers players and coaches, it provided a snapshot of how Ohtani will handle his first October. He hit a home run in his second at-bat, becoming only the third player to hit a home run in his postseason debut, joining Brooks Robinson in 1966 and Giancarlo Stanton in 2018.
“He injected absolute lightning into the stadium,” Muncy said of Ohtani. “And from then on, it was like, ‘Okay, we’ve done this. We’re good to go.'”
