Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and threw six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5–1 clinching win in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS, a night that earned him NLCS MVP honors and immediately entered the conversation as one of the greatest single-game postseason performances in baseball history.
Sportsvival’s top MLB Playoff one-game performances:
1- LAD-Shohei Ohtani- hit three homers, threw 6.0 IP with 0-ER and 10 strikeouts in game clinching NLCS
2- NYY- Reggie Jackson- hit three homers in game 6 of the 1977 World Series.
3- NYY- Don Larsen- Game 5 of the 1956 World Series threw the only perfect game in MLB postseason history
4- MIN- Jack Morris- 10.0 shutout in game 7 of the 1991 World Series
Why Ohtani’s night stands apart
Ohtani’s line — three homers and six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts — is unprecedented because it combined elite, game-altering production at the plate with total dominance on the mound in the same high-leverage, series-clinching game. Media and analysts immediately framed it as not just a top-tier playoff night but possibly the greatest single-game playoff performance in MLB history.
Context versus other all-time October displays
Historic postseason nights usually fall into two categories: pitching epics that carry a team (Jack Morris, Roy Halladay) or offensive miracles that define a series (David Freese). Ohtani’s Game 4 is the rare fusion of both categories within one player on one night, matching the endurance and control of those pitching epics while delivering the instant, momentum-shifting offense of a Walk-Off hero. That duality is what elevates the performance beyond any single-axis comparison.
The statistical footprint and playoff sample
Across the 2025 postseason up through and including that game, Ohtani’s pitching line for the series showed exceptional strikeout ability and run prevention, and Game 4’s six scoreless frames with 10 K’s drastically amplified those numbers and narrative value. His offensive line for the postseason had moments of struggle earlier in the run, which only made the Game 4 outburst feel like a dramatic exclamation point to a narrative arc that had tension and release.
Cultural and historical significance
Baseball lore honors October feats because the stakes magnify every at-bat and every inning. The immediate reaction across outlets, players, and fans treated Ohtani’s night as a generational event and a reminder that we are watching a player who has redefined positional and role boundaries in modern baseball.
Final take
We are lucky as baseball fans to witness the greatness of Shohei Ohtani. The combination of two-way excellence, in a series-clinching playoff environment, delivered a performance that will be replayed, compared, and debated for decades. Nights like this are the reason sports retain mythic power, and Ohtani’s Game 4 will sit beside the great October legends in baseball history because it did something almost no one thought possible on a single, incandescent night