The Blue Jays don't want to face Shohei Ohtani, but they'll have no choice in World Series Game 4

LOS ANGELES -- Even rare air doesn't cover it. It doesn't do him justice. It can't define what the universe has watched from Shohei Ohtani on the grandest stage in one of the grandest markets. His presence is imposing. Willful. Games tilt on his power alone. Gravity is a force no man can overcome. But Ohtani makes it feel optional.

It's impossible to forget. Not when the stature keeps rising. Not when the stakes go up and the player does, too. All his at-bats in a thrilling and ridiculous World Series Game 3 against the Blue Jays were a reminder of what his stage demands. Freddie Freeman launched the walk-off homer in the 18th inning. But it was Ohtani's show in Monday's 6-5 win at Dodger Stadium, a 399-minute affair that was the second longest World Series game of all time.

"He's the best player on the planet," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider flashed four fingers from the first-base dugout, after watching Ohtani do it again. And again. 

He was 4 for 4 to that point. Two homers and two doubles. He was the first player ever in postseason history with multiple home runs, multiple doubles, and multiple walks in a single game. 

"Every game's different," Schneider said. "Every pitcher's different. The guy's a great player. There's certain times where you feel like you feel better about someone else beating you. If that someone else is Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman it still stings. But he had a great game and we're just going to try to continue to execute."

The swings got longer from everyone else. The feet got heavier. Relievers turned to starters and starters turned to afterthoughts. Each side yearned for a mistake from the opposition and equally a run for their club in a game that started a little after 5 p.m. local time and nearly lasted until midnight.

Ohtani was the reason his club was in it in the first place, reaching base nine times, the most ever in a playoff game. In his 17th-inning at-bat, his final of the night, Schneider took a visit to the mound to chat with Brendon Little. "We were trying to pitch around him," Schneider said. 

They pitched to him this time ... and walked him on four pitches. 

Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with a double off Max Scherzer. Remember him? Scherzer made it just 4⅓ innings. In the third, Ohtani got him again, turning on an up-and-in fastball off the plate and yanking it to right for a solo shot.

Then in the seventh, he showed the full field, going oppo with a game-tying home run off Seranthony Domínguez.

Every time the Blue Jays answered -- as they always do -- Ohtani made sure his response was louder. That's when Schneider had enough.

"He was on the heels of a huge offensive night, and John smelled that and wasn't going to let Shohei beat him at all," Roberts said. "Obviously, and even when nobody's on base and putting him on to make the other guys beat him. Respect it and, fortunately, we have other guys behind Shohei that can still do some things and, yeah, I mean, a hard-fought game." 

A hard-fought game made possible by the heroics of Ohtani. He proves time and again that he's not of this ilk. Not of this game that can make others crumble. He rewrites its limits. His limits. 

His next task? Ohtani will be the Dodgers' starting pitcher in Game 4. He'll throw the first pitch 17 hours and 20 minutes after Game 3 ended. He has the chance to pitch his team to a 3-1 series lead, preserve a bullpen that badly needs a break and put the Dodgers on the brink of being baseball's first repeat champ in a quarter century.

"He's a unicorn," said Freeman. "There's no more adjectives you can use to describe Shohei. It's 4 for 4, five walks, he finally got pitched to in his last at-bat, and he still had the patience to not try to do too much and got on base. He's just incredible. We've been talking about him since he got [to MLB] in 2018. We're still running out of words to describe a once-in-a-ten-generational player." 

Unicorns don't exist. Ohtani does.

Yet despite Ohtani stretching the impossible, Game 4 will bring its tests. While running the bases in extra innings, Ohtani came up cramping but stayed in the game. That will be something to watch. How long do his legs hold up? How long can he go? The Dodgers need him to go deep after using everyone in their bullpen. Roberts even considered going to a position player at the end until Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who just pitched a complete game two days prior, volunteered to go into the game. The Blue Jays will likely be without George Springer, who left the game with right side discomfort and underwent an MRI. But their DNA still exists. They don't strike out much. They'll challenge Ohtani to make pitches. They'll work his pitch count, knowing the Dodgers are thin behind him. 

But this is what Ohtani wants. When people question how much he can handle, he shifts into another gear. When they doubt he can pitch and hit at this level, he elevates above the noise and dominates. He can carry a team. A country. The demands and pressures of a sport where the gaze of the world is fixed on his figure. On his possibility.

His teammates don't see possibility. They're beyond that. Everything now is just affirmation of what they already know. 

"He's a freak," said Will Klein, who pitched four scoreless frames in relief. "I don't know how anyone can do what he does. Being the best hitter and the best pitcher in the league. I don't think there's a word to describe it other than he's the GOAT. He's going to shove Tuesday."