Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers made sure that they had their big bats and power with them in Game 1 of their National League Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.
In fact, the Dodgers just tied a franchise record by hitting not one, not two, not three, not four, but five home runs in the series opener versus the Reds.
“The Dodgers' 5 HRs ties a franchise record in the postseason,” Bob Nightengale of USA Today shared via a social media post on X, formerly Twitter.
Ohtani started Los Angeles' home run party with a solo shot that went 375 feet deep in the first inning off Reds starter Hunter Greene to put the Dodgers on the board. Teoscar Hernandez added another home run with a three-run blast in the third inning, also at Greene's expense, to stretch Los Angeles' lead, 4-0. Tommy Edman went yard in the following at-bat, taking Greene deep for a 388-foot dinger for a 5-0 Dodgers cushion.
Hernandez got back to it in the fifth inning, this time knocking out a 390-foot solo homer against Reds reliever Connor Phillips to give the Dodgers a 6-0 advantage. An inning later, Ohtani took his turn to punish Phillips with a two-run blast, giving the reigning World Series champions a hefty 8-0 lead.
The Reds had a spirited run down the stretch of the 2025 MLB regular season to catch the New York Mets for the third and final NL Wild Card spot, and the reward for that is a series against the powerful Dodgers, who are showing Cincinnati that they're simply on a different level. Los Angeles' offense is always a problem for its opponents, and it's showing in a big way in this series opener opposite Cincinnati.
Back in the regular season, the Dodgers finished second in the big leagues in both home runs (244) and slugging percentage (.441). On the the New York Yankees were better in those categories than Los Angeles.
Game 2 of this best-of-3 series at Dodger Stadium is scheduled for this Wednesday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Zack Littell expected to start for the Dodgers and Reds, respectively. Seeing Littell on the mound could have Los Angeles hitters' eyes light up, as he gave up the second-most home runs among pitchers in the regular season.
