With Game 4 of the NLCS rapidly approaching, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves a game away from the World Series, where they will face off against the Toronto Blue Jays or the Seattle Mariners for the right to become back-to-back World Series champions.
But before fans can start celebrating the occasion and the pro shop can bring out their already printed stock of National League Championship merch, the Dodgers have to take one more win from the Milwaukee Brewers, with Shohei Ohtani earning an opportunity to punch their World Series ticket once and for all.
Discussing Ohtani's return to the mound before Game 4, skipper Dave Roberts revealed his “soft parameters” for the two-way star in terms of pitches and available innings.
Now granted, the idea of Ohtani throwing more than 100 pitches in Game 4 would actually be a pretty major story, as in 2025, he's been one of the more guarded pitchers in baseball, with Emmet Sheehan, Jacob Wrobleski, and Dustin May all piggybacking off of the MVP when he hit his requisite innings in a game. Ohtani's pitching high watermark came in the regular season finale, throwing 91 pitches in a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and went 89 pitches in his first and to this point only playoff start, going six innings in a win over the Philadelphia Phillies that saw him give up three hits and three runs versus nine strikeouts.
Could Ohtani end up mowing down the Brewers with relative ease like Blake Snell in Game 1, keeping his pitch count low against a demoralized team and forcing an eight-inning if his pitch count is in the low 90s? Potentially so, as few expected Roberts to allow Yoshinobu Yamamoto to go the distance in Game 2, but with a number of quality pitchers available from the bullpen following an incredibly light series of relief action, it's safe to assume Ohtani won't be the pitcher to earn the final out of Game 4 when it's recorded.
