Wondering when Shohei Ohtani might pitch for the Dodgers has been an ongoing question dating back to last postseason. Last year, the two-way star wasn’t really an option considering he hadn’t really progressed much at all in his rehab from 2023 elbow surgery.

Last year, Shohei Ohtani introduced himself to postseason baseball with a game-tying blast in the second at-bat of his first big league playoff game. He didn't make the fans at Dodger Stadium wait nearly as long this time around.

Ace Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.76 ERA) starts for the Reds, making his postseason debut. Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell takes the mound for the Dodgers, his first start in the playoffs since signing a big-money deal with Los Angeles last winter.

Shohei Ohtani's mother is Kayoko Ohtani. She also made her mark as an athlete, earning rave reviews as an amateur badminton player in Japan. She very well could be the most talented athlete in the family. “I can’t beat her in badminton to this day,” Shohei told MLB.com in 2017. “She’s tall and she’s been playing badminton for a long time.”

Ohtani finished the season with 146 runs and 55 home runs. He's only the fifth player to ever have a season with at least 145 runs and 50 homers. The other four are Babe Ruth, Hack Wilson, Jimmie Foxx and Sammy Sosa, according to @JayHayKid. Ruth did it four times, with the others each doing it once.

The National League MVP race is competitive down the final stretch of the regular season, but Shohei Ohtani has the award all but won.