When Shohei Ohtani was focused at the plate, what did that experience feel like for him? Does he feel the stadium is quiet? Does he feel like he doesn’t think?
“It seems like he’s concentrating,” he said.
The Japanese reporters gathered in the Dodger Stadium interview room burst into laughter at his cheerful answer.
There continues to be no explanation as to how Otani does what he does. In his first postseason game, Ohtani performed Saturday as he did during his record-breaking regular season.
Read more: Flaschke: Take it! The vengeful Dodgers earned a win over the Padres in their postseason opener.
He hit a three-run home run in the second inning to make up for the three-run deficit.
He dropped a broken bat hit to center field in the fourth inning, contributing to a three-run surge that put the Dodgers ahead and helping them to a 7-5 victory over the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League. Division Series.
“Shohei is Shohei,” said outfielder Teoscar Hernández. “We didn’t expect anything less than what he showed today. He is the one who will guide us through this whole process and we will follow him and try to play at the same level as him.”
For the most part, the Dodgers are the same team as last year. Their starting pitching is terrible. Their hitters are prone to slumps. But they have Otani.
Without Ohtani, it would have been impossible to advance to the playoffs this season. With him, they can become World Series champions.
He is the most physically gifted player in baseball and the most driven player in baseball. But what really sets him apart from others is his ability to calm himself down inside the plate, regardless of how excited he can be outside the plate.
“I’m clear about what I want to do and I go to the plate somewhat prepared,” Ohtani said. “I calmly think about what I have in store and turn my attention to the pitcher.”
Saturday provided another example.
The moment before the first pitch, Ohtani looked as if he was ready to rush onto the field. While Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was warming up, he was already jumping up and down behind the team bench with a bat in his hand.
Ohtani’s demeanor completely changed when he faced Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease in the bottom of the inning. Suddenly he was the calmest player on the field.
How does he make the transition?
“I don’t know,” he said. “When I go to bat, I automatically become focused.”
His manager was also puzzled.
“I don’t know how that happens,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He definitely has that switch.”
In Ohtani’s first at-bat, he was caught behind by a high 99 mph fastball and flew to left field. With two outs and two men on, the next turn at the plate, Ohtani was caught by Cease and threw another high fastball, this one going 97 miles per hour.
Ohtani hit the ball over the right field fence. The game ended 3-3 with a 3-pointer.
As he watched the ball fly, Ohtani’s attitude changed again. He screamed and threw the bat sideways.
By that point, thoughts of a breakup had once again begun to seep into the collective consciousness of a team that had been eliminated at this stage of the postseason in each of the previous two seasons.
“I mean, you can almost feel it on the field,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “But thankfully there was a guy named Shohei Otani, who injected absolute lightning into the stadium. From then on I was like, ‘Okay, we got this, we’re good, this isn’t the same as the last few years.’”
Yamamoto gave up two more runs in the third and final inning in a disastrous start, but the Dodgers responded by giving up four runs in the fourth.
Ohtani wasn’t just immune to Dodgeritis. He was also a vaccine.
Ohtani said, “I think I was very nervous at the beginning of the first game. “We conceded 3 goals, but I think we caught up quickly with good form and created a good trend,” he said.
At a press conference the day before, Ohtani seemed confident that the moment wouldn’t be that big of a deal for him.
When asked if he was nervous, Ohtani didn’t wait for interpreter Will Ireton to repeat the question in Japanese.
“no.” Otani answered in English.
He smiled.
He later explained it in Japanese: “I have been practicing for this since I was a child. I’ve always thought that it would be nice to stand on a stage like this. “I think I’m more excited (rather than nervous).”
Twelve years after rejecting an offer to sign with the Dodgers to begin his professional career in Japan, and seven years after opting to join the downtrodden Angels in the most competitive league in the world, he’s finally here.
Ohtani finally made it to the major league postseason, and he was ready.
Read more: Shohei Ohtani’s three-run home run helped the Dodgers defeat the Padres in Game 1 of the NLDS.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
