Shohei Ohtani gives Aaron Judge big question to answer in MLB Playoffs

The opening night of the 2024 MLB Divisional playoffs could not have gone any differently for each of the league's respective MVP favorites.

In New York, Aaron Judge struck out three times as part of a 0-4 performance. The Yankees lineup picked him up as New York edged the Kansas City Royals for a nervy 6-5 win.

It's much of the same in the playoffs for Judge -- the prodigal slugger has yet to translate his historic regular season through 45 postseason games. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hadn't ever played in a playoff game.

In Los Angeles, Ohtani stepped to the plate with two runners on in the third inning with the Dodgers already in a 3-0 hole to the rival San Diego Padres .

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The superstar uncorked a lined missile over the right-field wall before emphatically chucking his bat to the ground. Dodger Stadium went into a frenzy and Los Angeles rode the momentum to a 7-5 victory.

Before the game, Ohtani was asked if he was feeling any nerves ahead of his postseason debut. The non-English-speaking Ohtani shrugged. off his translator and cooly answered, "Nope."

“I could feel the intensity of the stadium before the game began and I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Ohtani said with the help of his translator postgame.

Both superstars are coming off historic regular seasons. Judge led the league with an impressive 10.8 bWAR and a 1.159 OPS along with 58 homers and 144 runs batted in.

However, Saturday's poor showing is yet another dent in his overall playoff stat line: Judge now owns just a .758 OPS in postseason play.

Ohtani became the first player to hit 50+ home runs (54) and steal 50+ bases (59) in a single season and contributed 9.2 bWAR. All the more impressive: the Japanese star didn't pitch. He added 6.1 bWAR during the 2022 season on the mound alone, meaning he can give Babe Ruth's 101-year-old record of 14.1 a real run next season.

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“I just really have never seen a guy in the biggest of moments come through as consistently as he has,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I wish a lot of other players had that ability. He’s just very unique in that.”

"Thankfully we have a guy whose name is Shohei Ohtani and he injected an absolute lightning bolt into the stadium," said infielder Max Muncy. "From then on it was, ‘Alright, we’ve got this. This is not the same as years past. We’re good."

The Dodgers star remarkably has never played in the playoffs. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels out of Japan for the 2018 campaign but failed to record a winning record with their prodigal talent.