Shohei Ohtani's historic performance sends Dodgers to World Series

LOS ANGELES — It was a night that will live forever in Los Angeles Dodgers history.

There was the Sandy Koufax perfect game.

There was the Kirk Gibson home run.

And Thursday night, it was The Shohei Ohtani Game, one of the greatest postseason performances in baseball history.

Ohtani hit three home runs, pitched six electrifying innings, struck out 10 batters and went down in history as the first pitcher to hit multiple home runs in a postseason game.

He was the 13th player in history to hit three homers in a postseason game and joined Hall of Famer George Brett as the only ones to hit three postseason homers from the leadoff spot.

Brett, of course, was a third baseman, not a pitcher.

Ohtani hit more home runs this night than hits allowed (two) in front of a sellout crowd of 52,8383 that had Dodger Stadium literally shaking.

And the Dodgers are going back to the World Series.

The Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers with a 5-1 win Friday in the National League Championship Series, their first sweep in a best-of-seven series since the 1963 World Series, but all anyone could talk about was Ohtani and those 1,342 feet worth of homers.

“I feel like Ohtani is a superhero,” Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said.

Ohtani, who took the mound at 5:39 local time, had the sellout crowd buzzing from the jump after walking leadoff hitter Brice Turang and promptly striking out Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and William Contreras.

He stepped to the plate at 5:48 local time and crushed Brewers starter Jose Quintana’s slurve, sending it 446 feet high to the right-field pavilion.

Oh, he was just getting started.

While he continued to mow down the Brewers, with Chourio producing the only hit off him on a ground-rule double, Ohtani stepped to the plate with two outs in the fourth. Facing right-handed reliever Chad Patrick, he watched a called first strike and then three consecutive balls on slurves.

Patrick tried to fool him by throwing an 89 mph cutter.

Ohtani sent it to orbit, landing almost in Pasadena.

Ohtani dropped his bat and watched the ball soar through the night, clearing the right-field pavilion.

He was in complete command on the mound, giving up just the double until he began to tire in the seventh inning. He walked Yelich to open the seventh, and Contreras followed with a single. At 100 pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came out of the dugout to pull Ohtani.

The crowd immediately rose to its feet, and as the Dodgers infield encircled Ohtani on the mound, he handed the ball to Roberts.

But Ohtani only left the game as a pitcher.

He came right back in the bottom of the seventh inning as a hitter, courtesy of the Ohtani Rule, which allows designated hitters to keep batting even if they’re pulled as pitchers.

Brewers closer Trevor Megill got ahead of Ohtani and on a 1-and-2 count tried to throw a 98.9 mph fastball past him.

He became Ohtani’s third victim.

Ohtani lined the fastball 427 feet over the center-field fence, with the crowd screaming in disbelief, stomping their feet so hard the stadium literally shook.

The Brewers could only sit back and watch in awe, with Ohtani and the Dodgers beating the Brewers in every phase of the game.

The Brewers, who led the National League in batting average, produced 14 hits the entire series, batting .113.

They scored one run in Game 1, one run in Game 2, one run in Game 3 and one in Game 4.

The Dodgers, who lost all six games in the regular season against the Brewers, completely outmanned them when it counted, leading in 35 of the 36 innings.

The Dodgers’ starting rotation never let the Brewers come up for air, with Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani completing the demolition derby.

The Dodgers, who didn’t get a first-round bye, will have a week off before opening the World Series on Oct. 24 against the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays.

They’ll be well rested, and that deep slump Ohtani (.103 in the NLDS and NLCS) was in before the game is over.

“I think this is his opportunity to make his mark on this series,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game.

Oh, did he ever.