The time has come for Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to show what he's got on the mound in the postseason. The reigning National League Most Valuable Player is set to make his MLB playoff pitching debut in the NL Division Series, where Los Angeles will be locking horns with the Philadelphia Phillies, who topped the NL East division with a 96-66 record.
Ohtani was initially slated to make his first postseason pitching start in the NL Wild Card Round, but only if the Dodgers' series against the Cincinnati Reds goes to a deciding Game 3. Los Angeles, however, needed just two games to crumple the Reds, who've been sent home by Ohtani and the Dodgers on Wednesday following an 8-4 win in Game 2.
After that win, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Ohtani would indeed be Los Angeles' starting pitcher in Game 1 of the Phillies series, which is scheduled for this coming Friday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.
Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the job done for the Dodgers in Game 1 and Game 2 of the Reds series, respectively, while Ohtani did his part well with his bat. In the two games versus Cincinnati, Ohtani went 3-for-9 with two home runs and four RBIs. He'll continue to be a threat with his bat in Game 1 of the Phillies, who are expected to start left-hander Cristopher Sanchez. Ohtani has had some success against Sanchez in the past. He is 4-for-16 with two RBIs in this career batter-pitcher matchup.
As for his pitching form, the 31-year-old Ohtani's last three starts send a strong message to Kyle Schwarber and the rest of Philadelphia's offense. Over that stretch, he allowed zero earned runs on eight hits with 18 strikeouts and only two walks issued through 14.2 innings of mound duty. Overall in the 2025 season, Ohtani went 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.04 WHIP over the course of 14 total appearances on the hill.
Perhaps the bigger pitching concern for the Dodgers heading into the Phillies series is the state of their bullpen, which continued to look shaky in the wild card.
