On Saturday evening, the Los Angeles Dodgers picked up a big road win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their NLDS matchup. The win continued Los Angeles' momentum from their recent Wild Card series win over the Cincinnati Reds and gave them home field advantage in the Phillies series moving forward.
The game marked the first career postseason pitching start for superstar Shohei Ohtani. The former league MVP performed relatively well, striking out nine Phillies batters while giving up just three hits and three earned runs in the start.
After the game, Ohtani got 100% real on what his feelings were going into the matchup.
“I was a little nervous imagining myself out there on the mound,” Ohtani said, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “But once I was on the mound and on the field, that went away and it was really me focusing.”
“The reason why I'm a two-way player is because that's who I am,’’ he added, “and it's what I can do. And also at the same time it's what the team wants.’’
Ohtani didn't have a great game from behind the plate, not recording a hit in five at-bats, but it didn't matter as the Dodgers were still able to pick up the win.
A resilient Dodgers win
While the Los Angeles Dodgers can't exactly be painted as an underdog story considering their gargantuan payroll, which towers above the Phillies' and almost every opponent's in the league, they still did show some fight on Saturday, overcoming an early deficit and ultimately claiming their final total of five runs thanks to a late three-run home run from Teoscar Hernandez, who also had some fireworks in the series against the Reds.
If Ohtani's bat can wake up moving forward, this series could be over very quickly.
As previously mentioned, the Dodgers now have home field advantage in the series, and will look to take a commanding 2-0 lead over Philadelphia heading back home when the series resumes on Monday. Game 2 of the matchup is slated for 6:08 PM ET.
