It just comes down to one game. The Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched the National League Championship Series with an astounding 5-1 win at home. On top of that, Shohei Ohtani delivered a performance of a lifetime. He became the first player in MLB history with 3 home runs and 10 strikeouts in a single game. His performance was so magnificent that by the end of the night, he earned the NLCS MVP honors after all. And if that wasn’t enough, even a former MLB legend of a rival team weighed in on who the real generational talent is.

Shohei Ohtani perhaps turned in one of his best all-around games as a two-way player on Friday night. The two-way marvel smacked three soaring home runs as the designated hitter while also striking out 10 over six-plus scoreless innings.

With a performance like that, it’s no surprise that he grabbed the attention of Dodgerland and beyond. Yankees longtime legend CC Sabathia hailed Ohtani and shared his ultimatum of who’s the greatest of all time.

“The best baseball player ever cuz…enjoy the Sho!!” He noted on X. While Aaron Judge is among the very best hitters of this generation, Ohtani is, arguably, one of the most unique players ever.

When Sabathia made that claim and joined Shohei Ohtani’s bandwagon, he may have delivered the final word in the long-running debate over who’s the GOAT — Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.

While opinions are always going to be divided on this, Sabathia’s ultimatum surprised many. This season, the 33-year-old Yankees sensation led the majors in batting average (.331), OPS (1.144), and WAR (9.7). All while wrapping up 53 home runs and 114 RBIs. Aaron Judge had hit .500 with 1 homer, 7 RBIs, and 4 walks in the postseason.

However, this GOAT debate is beyond numbers. That’s because Shohei Ohtani has an edge—being utterly dominant on both sides of the ball. Friday night marked the second time in his big league career, including the postseason, that he had struck out at least 10 batters while also going deep twice in a single game.

No other player in the league has done something like this more than once. Clearly, Shohei Ohtani made a stronger case in the MVP conversation in Game 4 of the NLCS.

Dave Roberts opened up about Shohei Ohtani’s epic night

Shohei Ohtani made his first and only start on the mound in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Friday at Dodger Stadium against the Milwaukee Brewers. After he turned in one of the best performances of this season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked if Ohtani’s outing surprised him at all.

“How far he hit this one tonight surprised me. Probably not the distance, but the velocity of that one was impressive.” He said. Here, Dave Roberts was referring to Shohei Ohtani’s 469-foot home run that left his bat at 116.9 mph.

It was truly a game for the ages to come. At the end, Shohei Ohtani established himself as the 11th player to hit three home runs in a postseason game. In fact, he also became the first since former Dodger Chris Taylor, who did so in game 5 of the 2021 NLCS. The Dodgers star began this series with only two hits across 14 plate appearances. But at the end, he finished it with a game that surprised both Roberts and Brewers manager Pat Murphy.

“I felt like the last couple days, I felt pretty good at the plate. Just because of the postseason sample size, or the lack thereof, it’s just that. The lack of performance skews in a short period of time.” Ohtani said in the postgame media availability.

Now, just a few days to go for the World Series, and the Dodgers have another run there for the second straight year!