Dodgers vs. Mets: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts lead LA offense to another blowout win in NLCS Game 4

NEW YORK – A home run sent Shohei Ohtani across home plate twice Thursday.

Each time, the Dodgers slugger greeted fellow superstar Mookie Betts with the most common phrase in professional baseball: “Let's go.”

In the first inning, Ohtani said the words matter-of-factly, as encouragement, as a plan of attack. Earlier, Los Angeles' leadoff man started NLCS Game 4 by flaming the second pitch he saw in the Mets' bullpen for a 117.9 mph home run, the third-hardest hit playoff home run ever tracked. Citi Field watched in cold silence as the Dodgers, already up 2-1 in the series, took an early lead.

Bates, being on second, waited for his teammate to float around the bases. Ohtani bounces his feet off the plate, high-fives bats and offers those two clichés, yet occasionally talks.

Five innings later, the scene played out again, in reverse. This time Bates silenced the crowd. With his Dodgers up by three, the contest still technically in the balance, Bates wouldn't relinquish it with a home run of his own into the left-field seats to give LA a commanding 7-2 lead. Ohtani, fresh off a well-earned walk, jogged home a few bits ahead of Betts. The two high-five again, and Ohtani gives a “Let's go.”

But this time Ohtani's words carried an air of gleeful disbelief, comic disbelief. It was almost a laugh. There was ample cause for rejoicing; Ohtani, who had never played in October before this year, knew he was about to be singled out of the World Series.

Los Angeles' MVP tandem carried the load in Game 4, which ended in a laugher, with the visitors winning by a score of 10-2. Ohtani and Betts scored a team-high seven runs to lift the Dodgers to one in three games of this NLCS. Ohtani finished the night 1-for-3 with three walks. Bates was 4-for-6 with four RBIs.

Thanks to them, the Dodgers can taste it.

“I tried to stay even-keeled and all that stuff.” “At a time like this, it doesn't really work, so you just have to jump on the roller coaster and enjoy the ride,” Bates said after the game.

But the Mets haven't folded, at least not yet.

Third baseman Mark Vientos hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first in response to Ohtani's leadoff shot. And for a few innings, there was a semblance of a ballgame. Los Angeles Mets plated two in the third to lefty Jose Quintana, who scored more runs Thursday (five) than in the past eight weeks combined. New York punched back again, with a Brandon Nimmo single on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the frame. OMG the Mets had threats hanging around.

But Quintana wasn't having it. The Colombian southpaw surrendered two more runs in the fourth on an RBI double from Betts. From there, the game continued until Bates broke it open in the sixth by clobbering to the moon. At that point, all Ohtani could do was “Let's go!”

The two stars, whose contracts add up to $1.065 billion, headed to the postseason on a night of shared dominance.

Bates, by now, is familiar with the October phase. His Game 4 home run was the seventh of his playoff career, the 67th of his career coming in a playoff game. These days, the shiny-domed right fielder is undeniably comfortable under the bright lights, but it wasn't always that way. Bates didn't throw a yard in his first 97 postseason plate appearances with the Red Sox — until he took Clayton Kershaw deep in Game 5 of the 2018 World Series.

Ohtani accomplished the feat even faster by hitting a long ball in his second October at-bat. While this is all new for the Japanese superstar, who endured six fruitless seasons as an Angel in Anaheim, he is clearly no stranger to the bright lights. His first handful of playoff games after that initial cacophonous outburst yielded underwhelming results. Before his game Thursday, Ohtani was 7-for-9 in scoring position this postseason with the bases empty and hitless with runners on.

That was just the oddity; Ohtani remains a formidable force no matter the occasion. And on Friday, the Mets will have to deal with him and Betts at least a few more times. The New York club's improbable run has at times been fueled by irrational confidence. Often, these mates don't know when they've been beaten, so they just come back and win.

Perhaps there is another twist to this story, but so far, things look different. Mets hitters look tired. The bullpen, overmatched and incomplete, couldn't find one, and the 43,882 who battled through a crisp, cold night seemed resigned to the fate of their beloved club.

After the game, an attendant in the Mets clubhouse wheeled a basket of items from the dugout to the locker room. The container holds a pair of gloves, a bat and the giant plastic “OMG” sign the team employs as a totem after a home run. If New York can't make a change on Friday, that attendant sign could go all the way to storage.

Ohtani and Betts hope it will.

The two represent the unstoppable strength of this Dodgers roster. Often, playoff baseball is about the little things: platoon advantage, the bullpen game plan, a surprise hero or two. Teams scout each other relentlessly, looking for the smallest possible edge. Games are broken down by pitch, hyper-analyzed under a microscope.

But on Thursday, Los Angeles reminded everyone that having two of the best players in the game is also a very good strategy.