The game’s greatest player turned in maybe the greatest single-game performance in baseball history Friday night. Shohei Ohtani, the singular star of the Dodgers, hit three home runs in his team’s pennant-clinching win over the Brewers (LA 5, MIL 1), and also struck out 10 in six shutout innings. It would be cheesy if it were a movie, but it happened in real life.
“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time. There’s been a lot of postseason games, and there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the win. “What he did on the mound, what he did at the bat, he created a lot of memories for a lot of people. To do it in a game-clinching game at home, wins the NLCS MVP, pretty special. I’m just happy to be able to go along for the ride.”
Our Matt Snyder called Ohtani’s Game 4 the greatest postseason performance in history. Not only do I agree with him, I’ll take it a step further and call it the greatest single-game performance period, regular season or postseason. The excellence at the plate and on the mound, the stakes, it all adds up to the best performance ever. An unbelievable player doing unbelievable things.
In honor of Ohtani’s Game 4 masterpiece, let’s go back and relive 10 of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history. These are in chronological order.
1916 World Series Game 2: Babe Ruth, Red Sox
Before he was the Sultan of Swat with the Yankees, Ruth was a terrific pitcher with the not-yet-rival Red Sox. In Game 2 of the 1916 World Series, Ruth threw a 14-inning complete game against the Brooklyn Robins, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks. He threw 145 pitches. The Babe went 0 for 5 at the plate, though he did drive in one of Boston’s two runs. The 14 innings are still the record for a postseason game. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series in five games.
1956 World Series Game 5: Don Larsen, Yankees
The only perfect game in postseason history, and, at the time, only the sixth perfect game in baseball history. Larsen went 27 up, 27 down against the Jackie Robinson/Duke Snider era Brooklyn Dodgers and struck out seven, a pretty high total in those days. He did it on two days’ rest, too. The series was tied 2-2, so the perfect game gave the Yankees a 3-2 series lead. They went on to win the World Series in seven games.
1967 World Series Game 7: Bob Gibson, Cardinals
Gibson started three times against the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series and threw three complete games, all wins. Game 7 was actually his worst pitching performance because he had the audacity to allow two runs. Gibson made up for it by hitting a home run of his own.
Gibson struck out 10 in the title-clinching win and is the only pitcher in history to throw a complete game and hit a home run in Game 7 of any series, let alone the World Series.
June 23, 1971: Rick Wise, Phillies
This is about as close to single-handedly winning a game as a player can get in this sport. Wise no-hit the Reds on this date and also hit two home runs. He drove in three of his team’s four runs. Wise is the only pitcher in history to hit two home runs in a no-hitter. Yeah, it happened in June, and yeah, neither the Phillies (67-95) nor the Reds (79-83) were going anywhere that season, but still, it was a remarkable individual performance by Wise.
1977 World Series Game 6: Reggie Jackson, Yankees
Jackson cemented his place as Mr. October with this legendary three-homer performance against the Dodgers in the 1977 World Series clincher. He also hit a home run in his final at-bat of Game 5, so Jackson hit four home runs in four consecutive at-bats off four different pitchers.
It was only the third three-homer game in the World Series at the time (Ruth did it in 1926 and 1928), and it ended what was at the time the longest World Series drought in Yankees’ history (14 years).
1988 World Series Game 2: Orel Hershiser, Dodgers
Shutout on the mound, perfect day at the plate. Hershiser, having seen his record 59-inning scoreless streak end a few weeks earlier, tossed a three-hit shutout against the Athletics (all three hits were singles), plus he went 3 for 3 with two doubles as a hitter. It was Hershiser’s second of three straight complete games that postseason. He also went the distance in the World Series clinching Game 5 win a few days later.
May 5, 1998: Kerry Wood, Cubs
The case can be made that this is the most dominant pitching performance in baseball history. In his fifth career start, the 20-year-old Wood struck out 20 Astros in a one-hit complete game shutout. The one hit was an infield single. Those 1998 Astros were a powerhouse — they went on to win 102 games and scored 29 more runs than the next best team in the league. So it was a transcendent performance by a rookie pitcher against a dominant offense.
At the time, it was the third 20-strikeout game in history (Roger Clemens did it in 1986 and 1996). My favorite fun fact about this game: Houston’s 3-4-5 hitters (Jeff Bagwell, Jack Howell, Moises Alou) went a combined 0 for 9 with nine strikeouts.
Sept. 19, 2024: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
You could argue Ohtani owns the greatest single-game performance in both the regular season and postseason. Last Sept. 19 in Miami, Ohtani went 6 for 6 with two doubles, three home runs, two stolen bases, and 10 RBI. The first stolen base was No. 50 on the season and the second home run was No. 50 as well. With this monster game — it was only the second six-hit, five-extra-base hit performance in history (Shawn Green did it in his four-homer game in 2002) — Ohtani became the first and still only member of the 50-50 club.
July 25, 2025: Nick Kurtz, Athletics
Remember when I said Ohtani had the second six-hit, five-extra-base hit game in history last Sept. 19? Kurtz had the third this July 25. He went 6 for 6 with a double and four home runs against the Astros, and that double very nearly left Daikin Park for what would have been the first five-homer game in baseball history:
Kurtz also scored six runs, which is a shockingly exclusive club. Only nine times has a player scored six runs in a game (Mel Ott did it twice). There have been more than twice as many perfect games (24) as six-run games (nine).
2025 NLCS Game 4: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
Three home runs at the plate, 10 strikeouts in six shutout innings on the mound. Only one other pitcher in baseball’s Modern Era has hit three home runs in a game (Jim Tobin in 1942), and Ohtani did it in a pennant-clinching win. And to think, everyone was wondering what was wrong with him leading into this game because he had struggled at the plate this postseason. Ohtani more than earned the NLCS MVP with this one single game.
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