NEW YORK – Home runs sent Shohei Ohtani across the plate twice on Thursday.
Each time, the Dodgers slugger greeted fellow superstar Mookie Betts with the most common phrase in professional baseball: “Let’s go.”
In the first round, Ohtani said those words matter-of-factly, as encouragement, as a plan of attack. Moments earlier, the Los Angeles leading man had started NLCS 4 game with aplomb, incinerating the second pitch he saw in the Mets bullpen for a 117.9 mph home run, the third hardest-hit postseason home run on record. Citi Field watched in cold silence as the Dodgers, already down 2-1 in the series, took an early lead.
Betts, who was expected to finish second, waited for his teammate to float around the bases. Ohtani bounced his foot on the plate, saluted Betts and said those two clichéd, but sometimes telling, words.
Five rounds later, the scene repeated itself, in reverse. During this go-around, Betts muted the crowd. With his Dodgers up three, the contest still technically in the balance, Betts blasted his own home run into the left field seats to give Los Angeles a 7-2 lead that he would not relinquish. Ohtani, fresh off a well-deserved walk, raced home running a few beats ahead of Betts. The two high-fived each other once more, and once again Ohtani let out a “Let’s go.”
But this time, Ohtani’s words had an air of joyous disbelief, of comic disbelief. It was almost a laugh. There were many reasons to rejoice; Ohtani, who had never played in October before, knew he would soon have just one World Series victory.
Los Angeles’ MVP tandem carried the charge in Game 4, which ended in a laugh, with the visitors winning by a score of 10-2. Ohtani and Betts scored seven of the team’s runs to give the Dodgers a three-games-to-one NLCS lead. Ohtani finished the night 1 for 3 with three walks. Betts was 4 for 6 with four RBIs.
Thanks to them, the Dodgers can taste it.
“I tried to stay balanced and all those things.” Betts said after the game: “In a moment like this, it doesn’t really work, so you just have to jump on the roller coaster and enjoy the ride.”
But the Mets didn’t fold, at least not right away.
Third baseman Mark Vientos responded to Ohtani’s first shot with a solo homer in the bottom of the first. And for a few innings, there was some semblance of a ball game. Los Angeles scored two in the third against Mets left-hander Jose Quintana, who allowed more runs Thursday (five) than he had in the last eight weeks combined. Once again, New York fought back, scoring a goal on a Brandon Nimmo defender’s pick at the bottom of the frame. The OMG Mets were threatening to hang around.
But Quintana wasn’t having it. The Colombian left-hander gave up two more runs in the fourth on an RBI double from Betts. From there, the game continued until Betts broke it open in the sixth by hitting one to the moon. At this point, all Ohtani could do was laugh and say “Let’s go!” »
The two stars, whose contracts total $1.065 billion, took very different paths in the playoffs until their night of shared dominance.
Betts is no stranger to the October scene by now. His Game 4 home run was the seventh of his postseason career, it was his 67th career postseason game. These days, the shiny-domed right fielder is undeniably comfortable under the brightest lights, but that wasn’t always the case. Betts didn’t throw for any yards in his first 97 postseason plate appearances with the Red Sox — until he took Clayton Kershaw deep in Game 5 of the 2018 World Series.
Ohtani accomplished this feat much more quickly, crushing a long ball in his second at-bat in October. While this is all new to the Japanese superstar, who endured six unsuccessful seasons as an Angel in Anaheim, he is obviously no stranger to the brightest lights. Its first handful of playoff games after that initial cacophonous explosion offered shaky results. Before his tater Thursday, Ohtani was hitless with the bases empty and 7-for-9 with runners in scoring position this postseason.
This oddity was just that; Ohtani remains a formidable force no matter the occasion. And on Friday, the Mets will have to face him and Betts at least a few more times. The New York club’s improbable run has at times been fueled by an irrational level of self-confidence. Often these Mets didn’t know when they were beaten, so they would just come back and win.
There may be yet another twist in this story, but from here on things seem different. The Mets hitters look tired. The overmatched and undermanned bullpen couldn’t find a way out, and the 43,882 players who faced a cold, intense night seemed resigned to the fate of their beloved club.
After the game, a Mets clubhouse attendant carried a basket full of items from the dugout to the locker room. In the container were a few gloves, a bat and the huge plastic “OMG” sign that the team used as a totem after home runs. If New York can’t bring about a turnaround on Friday, that attendant can take the panel to storage.
Ohtani and Betts hope that will be the case.
Both represent the overwhelming power of this Dodgers roster. Often, baseball’s postseason comes down to the little things: platoon advantages, bullpen game plans, a surprise hero or two. Teams monitor each other relentlessly, looking for the slightest potential advantage. Games are broken down by pitch, hyper-analyzed under a microscope.
But on Thursday, Los Angeles reminded everyone that having two of the best players in the game is also a very good strategy.