Is Shohei Ohtani the greatest of all time?

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Seven questions after one of the unimaginable, exhausting video games in World Sequence historical past!

1. How does this 18-inning Sport 3 change this World Sequence?

Till Monday evening’s battle between the Blue Jays and finally triumphant Dodgers, the one World Sequence sport longer than 14 innings was Sport 3 in 2018, which I attended seven years and at some point prior.

By the 14th inning and second seventh-inning stretch, it was exhausting to recollect life earlier than arriving on the ballpark or what the skin world was even like. When Max Muncy lastly walked it off, I used to be too surprised that it was over to really feel anything. A sport that lengthy, it appears, will play on eternally. Any ending, when it lastly comes, feels impossibly abrupt.

Not like ’18, once I was assured the Crimson Sox would nonetheless win all of it, I’m unsure how this sequence will finish. Not just because the exhaustion of enjoying an 18-inning sport throws a severe wrench into any works, however as a result of when two groups thought of to have dangerously unreliable relievers put collectively one of the unimaginable bullpen battles in postseason historical past, it utterly flips the script.

2. What’s it concerning the Dodgers, Brad Paisley, and extra-inning World Sequence video games?

Not solely have the Dodgers now gained the 2 longest World Sequence video games ever, however each had been Sport 3s at Dodger Stadium, ended by way of walk-off solo house runs within the backside of the 18th inning.

At the least this one lasted solely six hours and 39 minutes, in comparison with the seven-hour, 20-minute insanity in 2018. Thank goodness for the pitch clock.

The Dodgers had been additionally one-half of the 1916 sport that for many years held the World Sequence document (now a three-way tie for third). Then the Brooklyn Robins had no reply for a 21-year-old Crimson Sox phenom named George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth, who pitched a whole Sport 2, allowed one run, and had an RBI.

Nation singer and ardent Dodgers fan Brad Paisley can’t be blamed for 1916, however he’s a part of an outrageous sample in newer Octobers. Monday was the fourth time a World Sequence sport at Dodger Stadium went to extras after he carried out the nationwide anthem: Sport 2 in ‘17 (11 innings), Sport 3 in ‘18 (18), Sport 1 in ‘24 (10), and this 12 months’s Sport 3.

3. Why did the Blue Jays wait so lengthy to intentionally-walk Shohei Ohtani?

Watching the Blue Jays and Dodgers battle as Monday evening stretched into Tuesday morning right here on the east coast, I couldn’t assist however assume again to David Ortiz’s 2013 postseason.

After Ortiz’s unceasing torment of the St. Louis Cardinals within the first 5 contests – 11 for 15 (.733) with two doubles, two homers, 5 runs, six batted in, 4 walks and nil strikeouts – they lastly capitulated and deliberately walked him thrice and unintentionally walked him as soon as.

And – I by no means thought I’d say this about anybody – Ohtani has been higher.

No participant had ever reached base as many as seven instances in a single postseason sport. In Sport 3, Ohtani reached base 9 instances, extending his Dodger Stadium streak to 13 consecutive plate appearances courting to Sport 3 of the NLCS.

His first 4 at-bats culminated in two doubles and two house runs. In line with Stathead, Ohtani is the seventh participant in MLB historical past to gather 4 extra-base hits in a postseason sport. Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho turned the sixth earlier this month in Sport 2 of the ALDS, however Ohtani is simply the second participant to achieve the benchmark within the World Sequence. Chicago White Sox infielder Frank ‘Bald Eagle’ Isbell set the document in Sport 5 of the third-ever Fall Basic, in 1906.

Ohtani acquired intentional walks in his subsequent 4 at-bats. Lastly, the Blue Jays determined to pitch to him once more, solely to unintentionally stroll him. He’s the primary participant to stroll as many as 4 instances in a World Sequence sport.

This isn’t to say I’m a fan of deliberately strolling legendary hitters, particularly within the postseason. There’s a sense that each hitter and followers are being robbed of a probably magical second when the opposing workforce pulls out what is actually the ‘Get out of jail free’ card.

However can you actually blame the Blue Jays for not eager to face him?

4. Was Sport 3 Clayton Kershaw’s ultimate main league outing?

It felt just like the baseball gods weren’t going to let Sport 3 finish earlier than Clayton Kershaw bought concerned.

And what a second it was when he took the mound within the twelfth and steered the Dodgers out of the trail of a bases-loaded iceberg.

If that is it for Kershaw, it’s the final instance of going out on prime. Particularly as a result of he added one thing new and distinctive to what’s positive to be a unanimous first-ballot Corridor of Fame election down the street; for the primary time in his 18-year profession, the Dodgers lifer pitched in further innings.

Nonetheless, if the Dodgers have a commanding sufficient lead in a possible deciding sport this week, I can not consider something higher than letting Kershaw shut it out.

5. Does Nathan Eovaldi get sufficient credit score for his efficiency in Sport 3 of the 2018 World Sequence?

The late innings of Monday evening’s battle inevitably drew comparisons to Nathan Eovaldi. Particularly when the Dodgers’ Hail Mary, rookie right-hander Will Klein, got here in and shut out the Jays for the ultimate 4 innings.

Because the scheduled starter for Sport 4, ‘Nasty Nate’ was a unique sort of final resort when he took the mound for the Crimson Sox within the twelfth inning of Sport 3 in ’18. Sacrificing his first profession World Sequence begin, Eovaldi put collectively one of the heroic performances in Crimson Sox historical past, dealing with the remaining six innings and throwing 36 extra pitches than starter Rick Porcello (61). And when Muncy homered to finish it, Eovaldi took the loss.

6. Can we cease making an attempt to check Shohei Ohtani to anybody else?

In some unspecified time in the future in further innings of Sport 3 when Ohtani appeared to steal second base after one among his 4 intentional walks, the printed started speaking about Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts’ well-known game-changing steal for the Crimson Sox in Sport 4 of the ‘04 ALCS.

Come on.

Roberts is Ohtani’s supervisor and it’s October baseball. That’s the place the comparisons ought to finish.

One was a midseason acquisition, put in a possible elimination sport as a pinch-runner for a workforce that had not gained a World Sequence in 86 years and was on the point of being swept by their hated rivals.

The opposite is a famous person unicorn athlete of mythic proportions, on the bazillion-dollar roster of a franchise that has not missed the playoffs in over a decade and is vying for its second consecutive championship and third in six years.

In different phrases, what Ohtani is doing is unimaginable sufficient by itself. Let’s get pleasure from it, as an alternative of making an attempt to make fruitless comparisons to this incomparable athlete.