"Shohei Ohtani playoff choker"; "Great" - Fans react to Dodgers' $700M superstar starting NLCS Game 4 against the Brewers

Reigning National League MVP Shohei Ohtani has been announced as the Dodgers' starter for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series match against the Brewers. Given that Ohtani's squad is up 3-0 in the series and are just a game away from making it back to the World Series, the baseball unicorn certainly has some room to breathe and perform peacefully without the tension of a high leverage situation.

After the announcement, several fans aired contrasting opinions about Ohtani's slated start. While some were delighted that the best baseball player on the planet was making his second MLB postseason start, others labeled him as someone who buckles under the bright lights.

Although he has a plethora of experience when it comes to postseason baseball, Ohtani's only other start as a pitcher came just this year in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series against the Phillies. In a six-inning appearance, the two-way star surrendered three runs on the same number of base hits with nine strikeouts and one walk in a winning effort.

Although many anticipated a close contest between the reigning champions in the Dodgers and the MLB's best regular season team in the Brewers, it has so far underwhelmed in terms of excitement due the former being able to stifle the latter's high octane offense in the NL championship series.

Dodgers overcome Brewers to move one game closer towards Fall Classic return

The defending World Series champion Dodgers are one game away from making a return to the Fall Classic after surviving in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Brewers. L.A. took a 3-1 victory away from the Brewers despite the latter's best efforts on the mound spearheaded by rookie Jacob Misiorowski.

Like in previous postseason games, Brewers manager Pat Murphy deployed a reliever to start the contest before inserting Misiorowski in the second inning. The young phenom gave up just two runs (one earned) on three base hits with nine strikeouts and a walk in five innings. However, the team's run support was lacking in the match with Jake Bauers being the only one to drive in a run, paving the way for the Dodgers to snatch the win.

Mookie Betts started the scoring for the defending champs with an RBI double in the first. This was followed up by Tommy Edman's RBI single in the sixth and a Brewers' error that pushed the scoreline to 3-1.

Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts then deployed fireballer Roki Sasaki to close out the contest to which the Japanese phenom delivered for his third postseason save.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

Know More

Edited by Daniel Santiago