Blue Jays will not pitch to devastating Shohei Ohtani for rest of World Series | Shohei Ohtani
After watching Shohei Ohtani rout their pitching staff in Game 3 of the World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays made a bold decision: They finished pitching in front of baseball’s biggest star.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider didn’t mince his words after the Dodgers won 6-5 Monday in an 18-inning classic in which Ohtani hit two doubles and two homers in his first four at-bats before Toronto essentially stopped trying to get him out.
“He had a great game, he’s a great player, but I think after that you kind of take the bat out of his hands,” Schneider said after the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic that resumes Tuesday in Los Angeles.
When asked if the plan would be to have Ohtani leave for the remainder of the World Series, Schneider’s response was blunt: “Yeah.”
This strategy played out in real time during Game 3, which tied for the longest playoff game in terms of innings and is also the second longest playoff game in terms of time having lasted six hours and 39 minutes.
When Ohtani hit a game-tying home run in the seventh, the Blue Jays intentionally walked him four times and unintentionally walked him once more. The message was clear: revolve around the superstar at all costs.
“His performance was really good. He’s arguably the best player on the planet,” Schneider said.
By the end of the third game, Ohtani had become the first player to reach base nine times in a playoff game, surpassing the previous mark of three. Ohtani also became the first player in postseason history with multiple home runs, multiple doubles and multiple walks in a single game.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised the Blue Jays’ tactical decision, calling Ohtani “the best player on the planet” and noting that Schneider “felt that and wasn’t going to let Shohei beat him at all.”
“You just don’t see this type of behavior from opposing managers and it’s just the ultimate sign of respect,” Roberts said, noting the extraordinary lengths teams have gone to neutralize baseball’s most dominant force.
But the Jays’ Ohtani strategy comes with an inherent problem: the Dodgers’ loaded lineup that follows it. Even after intentionally walking Ohtani, who is the first player to have three multi-homer games in a single postseason, the Blue Jays immediately face two former MVPs, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. It was Freeman, after all, who ended Game 3 with a home run in the 18th inning, marking the first World Series victory since his grand slam ended Game 1 of last year’s Fall Classic.
“There are certain times where I feel like you feel better when someone else beats you,” Schneider said. “If that someone else is Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman, it still stings. But [Ohtani] We had a great game and we’re just going to try to continue to execute.
The Blue Jays won’t be able to avoid Ohtani in Game 4 as he prepares to make his World Series debut, in which he will try to put the Dodgers on the brink of another title.
“He’s exhausted. He was on base eight, nine times tonight, running the bases,” Roberts said. “He’s excited. But yeah, he takes the mound tomorrow. He’ll be ready.”
It will be Ohtani’s first start since pitching six scoreless innings, striking out 10 batters and hitting three homers in the deciding game of the National League Championship Series 11 days ago, in a performance that left the sports world in awe.
