The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the World Series once again. After a 93-win season, they swept the Reds in the wild-card round, eliminated the Phillies in four games in the NLDS, and then swept the Brewers in the NLCS. Now, with nine wins in ten postseason games, the Dodgers are just four victories away from repeating as champions.

But the Dodgers did all this while their best player struggled. Shohei Ohtani‘s bat felt unusually cold in the postseason after finishing the season with a team-leading 55 home runs and 1.014 OPS. Before the last game, Ohtani had only six hits in 38 at-bats (.158)  with a .641 OPS and was in the middle of 8 eight-game homer drought with 17 strikeouts. Then, Ohtani delivered perhaps the greatest game in baseball history.

In NLCS Game 4, Ohtani started the game for the second time in this postseason after his debut on the mound against the Phillies, where he earned the win after pitching 6 innings with nine punchouts. And this time against the Brewers, he pitched 6-plus scoreless innings, allowing only 2 hits while striking out 10 batters. And on the plate, he went 3-for-3 with three home runs and a walk.

After that, his final series slash line was  .357/.500/1.143, and his playoff OPS jumped from .641 to .967 overnight. And this one game won him the NLCS MVP award.

It left everyone stunned, including the team’s owners. Tennis legend and Dodgers co-owner Billie Jean King shared her awe, tweeting, “We were so fortunate to have witnessed the greatest performance by Shohei Ohtani as both a pitcher and hitter: 10 strikeouts and 3 home runs.” Then, she delivered the bad news to the rest of the league. “And he’s just getting started.”

That last line, “he’s just getting started,” is the real warning.

And King was not exaggerating

Ohtani’s game was truly one of a kind. He is the first player in MLB history to hit three homers and get 10 strikeouts in the same game post post-season and regular-season combined. He also became the first pitcher ever to hit three home runs in a playoff game. To top it all off, his first homer was the first leadoff home run by a pitcher. Ever.

But still, Ohtani has struggled in October before, and Ohtani’s career postseason numbers have been below his standards. Even after that offensive berserk, Ohtani has only a .225 batting average with .358 OBP and .848 OPS in his 26 career postseason appearances. But the scary part is that only he can go that kind of berserk once again when cornered like that.

And when Ohtani can win a game all by himself, the rest Dodgers are terrifying.

Let’s start with the pitching. The Dodgers’ starting rotation was basically unhittable in the NLCS. The four-man crew of Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Ohtani was brilliant— they have allowed only 10 earned runs with 81 K’s while pitching 64 1/3 innings over their 10 playoff games.

The team’s old weak spot, the bullpen, looks fixed. Lefty Alex Vesia has become a reliable setup man once again and famously got Ohtani out of a jam in Game 4. But the biggest surprise is rookie Roki Sasaki. He has a 1.13 ERA and 3 saves in these playoffs since moving to the bullpen.

And the offense is stacked from top to bottom. Freddie Freeman, the 2024 World Series MVP, is hitting .231 but go-ahead home run in the NLCS. Teoscar Hernández is hitting .268 with 4 homers and 11 RBIs. Mookie Betts is batting with a .293 with an .809 OPS. The lineup does not stop there. Max Muncy just became the Dodgers’ all-time playoff home run leader. Kiké Hernández is hitting .306. Will Smith is a rock at catcher with a solid .286. Even Tommy Edman is driving in key runs.

So, what does this all mean? If the Dodgers win this World Series, they would be the first team in 25 years to win back-to-back titles, which proves their “Empire” model of building a team works. Ohtani himself said it best after his big game and posted a simple message to fans: “4 more.”