The Philadelphia Phillies had the Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way star Shohei Ohtani on the ropes early in Game 1 of the NLDS. The Phillies knew they had a handful facing Ohtani in his postseason pitching debut, but they failed to finish the job after making some early noise on offense.
Red October was in suspense, waiting for the Phillies to have an offensive game to remember. They had to face the tough Ohtani, who had a 2.87 ERA across 47 innings during the regular season. It was an uphill battle, but Ohtani even admitted himself before Game 1 that he was nervous about making his first postseason appearance as a pitcher. Even the most fearsome of competitors like Ohtani showed a sign of potential weakness the Phillies needed to pounce on.
"I'm sure I'll be nervous at times," Ohtani said on Friday through interpreter Will Ireton, per MLB.com's Sonja Chen. "But more than that, I'm just really grateful that I get to play baseball at this time of the year. And just being healthy is really important to me, so I'm just grateful for that."
Shohei Ohtani says he’ll be a little nervous but excited about making his 1st pitching performance in the postseason Saturday vs the Phillies. pic.twitter.com/NEFoi75go3
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 3, 2025
Phillies couldn't force Shohei Ohtani from Game 1 of NLDS after early offense
The Phillies pushed across three runs on Ohtani in the bottom of the second inning after a one-two-three first. Ohtani opened the second by walking Alec Bohm, followed by a Brandon Marsh single and then a crowd-erupting two-run triple by J.T. Realmuto to right-center field.
What seemed improbable gave the Phillies a jolt of life. It was a real vote of confidence for the Phillies after their previous encounter with Ohtani. Phillies fans may remember just back on Sept. 16, he threw five no-hit innings against them.
Sadly, that was all the offense the Phillies could produce for the remainder of the series opener against Ohtani. He gave up just one additional hit before completing six innings while striking out nine.
Shohei Ohtani's 9th K.
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 5, 2025
6 whiffs out of 7 swings on his Curveball tonight (86%) pic.twitter.com/qmAKCcwC0C
The Phillies had the formula to success by getting Ohtani to throw extra pitches and getting the nerves going after he mentioned it on Friday. They just failed to figure him out after the initial outburst.
Instead, the Phillies allowed Ohtani to work back into a groove and carve his way through the lineup, especially the top three hitters Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Those three finished the night a combined 1-for-11 with six strikeouts.
The Phillies also wasted what was a fantastic outing by Cristopher Sánchez. The backbreaker came when the bullpen coughed up the lead. The Phillies could have used a couple more runs against Ohtani to get him out of the game earlier and force them to deploy more of their questionable bullpen. They inevitably dropped the game 5-3 and now have to wait until Monday to try to even the series at one before the series heads to Los Angeles.