Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani warms up during batting practice ahead of the 2025 World Series against the Blue Jays.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
On Oct. 17, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers played the greatest game in Major League Baseball history. Facing the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium, the Japanese colossus not only tossed a two-hit, 10-strikeout gem over six shutout innings, he also clouted three homers, including one moon shot that cleared the ballpark completely.
In the classic baseball film The Natural, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, an extraordinary pitcher/hitter whose supernatural bat shatters at a key moment. Yet he prevails, smacking an astonishing blast with a substitute bat to win the game. It is as if Ohtani had watched the movie before Game 4 and told his teammates, “hold my Sapporo.”
Riding Ohtani’s game of a lifetime, the Dodgers won 5-1 to complete the sweep and advance to the World Series that begins Friday at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Blue Jays, having dramatically squeaked by the Seattle Mariners in seven games to take the American League pennant for the first time since 1993, will face a Dodgers team led by perhaps the greatest player baseball has ever produced.
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With his unprecedented double-threat dominance, the strapping 31-year-old with movie-idol looks is the stuff of fantasy and lore, spoken about in the hushed, unbelieving tone Torontonians typically reserve for long-delayed light-rail transit lines. The difference being, unlike the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, this unicorn is real.
And, yet, Toronto has experienced this rare kind of two-way baseball talent before, albeit briefly. On Sept. 5, 1914, at Maple Leaf Park on Hanlan’s Point, 19-year-old Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run and threw a one-hit, seven-strikeout shutout win for the minor league Providence Grays against the hometown Maple Leafs.
Ohtani celebrates after hitting a one-run home run against the Jays on Aug. 10.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
In the game report published in The Globe and Mail, an unnamed writer colourfully described the play of the tall left-hander who was not old enough to vote. About his pitching: “He can heave that old pill.” Of his bat: “Ruth whaled the bulb over the right field fence.”
Before Ohtani, Ruth was generally considered the most dominant slugger ever. In 1920, after the cash-strapped Boston Red Sox sold Ruth to the New York Yankees for US$125,000 (worth US$2,024,850 today), he hit 54 home runs − an achievement beyond anyone’s imagination.
At that point in history, only a handful of major-leaguers had hit that many round-trippers in their entire careers. Ruth’s single-season slugging percentage of .847 held the top spot until 2001, when Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants bettered it.
For his part, Ohtani belted 54 home runs in 2024 for the Dodgers and this season drove 55. His best-ever slugging percentage, however, is .654, in 2023, his final season with the Dodgers’ crosstown rivals the Los Angeles Angels. A big number, but far behind Bonds and Ruth.
Here’s the thing, though. While Ruth was a dominant hurler early in his career with the Red Sox, he mostly gave up pitching after his trade to the Yankees to concentrate on hitting. Ohtani, on the other hand, is heaving that old pill and whaling the bulb simultaneously.
Ohtani prepares on deck during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Aug., 2025.Jessie Alcheh/The Associated Press
Ruth was a cultural phenomenon whose impact on a dynastic sports franchise was so great that Yankee Stadium is referred to as The House That Ruth Built to this day. He lived large and charismatically, guzzling beers, chasing dames and resting only when his other appetites were satisfied.
Ohtani? He is an introverted sleep enthusiast who snoozes 10 hours a night and takes game day naps religiously. However, he’s doing things on the field no one else has ever done. Yes, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Rick Wise tossed a no-hitter and popped two home runs against the Cincinnati Reds in 1971. But Ohtani’s playoff performance last week was a feat for the ages − “Ohtanian” may have eclipsed “Ruthian” as baseball’s most prized adjective.
Blue Jays fans have no love for Ohtani. As a prized free agent after the 2023 season, he turned down a fat contract offer from the Blue Jays to sign with the Dodgers. There’s a sense that he toyed with the Canadian team as a negotiating ploy, with no serious intention of ever coming here.
It is natural to want to believe in a unicorn. Toronto people hoped a unicorn, just once, would believe in them.