Shohei Ohtani hits 3 homers and
strikes out 10 in Dodgers' clinching 5-1 NLCS win over Brewers
[October 18, 2025]
By GREG BEACHAM
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers
back to the World Series with a two-way performance for the ages.
Ohtani hit three mammoth homers and struck out 10 while pitching
shutout ball into the seventh inning, and the Dodgers swept the
Milwaukee Brewers out of the National League Championship Series
with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 on Friday night.
“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There’s been a lot of postseason
games. And there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the
planet.”
The Dodgers will have a chance to become baseball’s first repeat
World Series champions in a quarter-century after this mind-blowing
night for the three-time MVP, who emphatically ended a quiet
postseason by his lofty standards. Ohtani was selected the NLCS MVP
essentially on the strength of this one unforgettable game.
“This time around it was my turn to be able to perform,” he said
through his interpreter.
After striking out three in the top of the first inning, Ohtani hit
the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in major league history off
Brewers starter Jose Quintana.
Ohtani followed with a 469-foot drive in the fourth, clearing a
pavilion roof in right-center.
He added a third solo shot in the seventh, becoming the 12th big
league player to hit three homers in a postseason game. His three
homers traveled a combined 1,342 feet.
Ohtani also thoroughly dominated the Brewers in his second career
postseason start on the mound, allowing just two hits during his
first double-digit strikeout game in a Dodgers uniform. He didn't
give up a hit until the fourth, and he fanned two Brewers in the
fourth, fifth and sixth.
“Sometimes you’ve got to check yourself and touch him to make sure
he’s not just made of steel,” said teammate Freddie Freeman, last
season’s World Series MVP. “Absolutely incredible. Biggest stage,
and he goes out and does something like that. It’ll probably be
remembered as the Shohei Ohtani game.”
After the Brewers’ first two batters reached in the seventh, Ohtani
left the mound to a stadium-shaking ovation — and after Alex Vesia
escaped the jam, Ohtani celebrated by hitting his third homer in the
bottom half.
The powerhouse Dodgers are the first team to win back-to-back
pennants since Philadelphia in 2009. Los Angeles is back in the
World Series for the fifth time in nine seasons, and it will attempt
to become baseball’s first repeat champs since the New York Yankees
won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000.
“That was special," Freeman said. "We’ve just been playing really
good baseball for a while now, and the inevitable kind of happened
today — Shohei. Oh my God. I’m still speechless.”
Following a 9-1 rampage through the NL playoffs, the Dodgers are
headed to the World Series for the 23rd time in franchise history,
including 14 pennants since moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
Only the Yankees, last year’s opponent, have made more appearances
in the Fall Classic (41).
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Members of the Milwaukee Brewers watch during the eighth inning in
Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series against the
Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP
Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles will have a week off before the World Series begins next
Friday, either in Toronto or at Dodger Stadium against Seattle. The
Mariners beat the Blue Jays 6-2 earlier Friday to take a 3-2 lead in
the ALCS, which continues Sunday at Rogers Centre.
The Dodgers had never swept an NLCS in 16 previous appearances, but
they became only the fifth team to sweep this series while
thoroughly dominating a Milwaukee club that led the major leagues
with 97 wins during the season. Los Angeles is the first team to
sweep a best-of-seven postseason series since 2022, and the first to
sweep an NLCS since Washington in 2019.
“Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining
baseball,” Roberts shouted to the crowd during the on-field
celebration. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”
The NL Central champion Brewers were eliminated by the Dodgers for
the third time during their current stretch of seven playoff
appearances in eight years. Even after setting a franchise record
for wins this season, Milwaukee is still waiting for its first World
Series appearance since 1982.
“We were part of tonight an iconic, maybe the best individual
performance ever in a postseason game,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy
said. “I don’t think anybody can argue with that. A guy punches out
10 and hits three homers.”
The Brewers had never been swept in a playoff series longer than a
best-of-three, but their bats fell silent in the NLCS against the
Dodgers’ brilliant starting rotation. Los Angeles’ four starters
combined to pitch 28 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed and 35
strikeouts.
“I really think that to beat us four games in a row, you’ve got to
do a lot of things right,” outfielder Blake Perkins said. “Some
things had to go their way that didn’t go our way. We hit a lot of
balls at people. But either way, Ohtani did great today. Is he the
greatest player ever? I don’t know. But he sure seemed like it
tonight.”
The Dodgers added two more runs in the first after Ohtani’s
tone-setting homer, with Mookie Betts and Will Smith both singling
and scoring.
Jackson Chourio doubled leading off the fourth for Milwaukee’s first
hit, but Ohtani stranded him.
Struggling Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen allowed two more
baserunners in the eighth, and Caleb Durbin scored when Brice Turang
beat out his potential double-play grounder before Anthony Banda
ended the inning.
Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth in the latest successful relief outing
for the Dodgers' unlikely rookie closer.
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