The Dodgers will fly to Philadelphia Thursday where they will begin a National League Division Series against the East Division champion Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, with Shohei Ohtani set to accomplish another previously unprecedented feat.
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Ohtani will be the Dodgers' Game 1 starting pitcher, manager Dave Roberts announced after the team completed a two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in a National League Wild-Card Series with an 8-4 victory Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Ohtani will become the first player to start at least one game as pitcher and at least one as a non-pitcher in a single postseason, according to Sarah Langs, a researcher with Major League Baseball.
The game will also mark Ohtani's postseason pitching debut. He did not pitch in 2024 as he recovered from a procedure to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament. The Angels never reached the postseason in his six seasons with the team.
Ohtani pitched five no-hit innings against the Phillies on Sept. 16 in his only pitching appearance against them. The Dodgers led 4-0 through five innings but lost 9-6.
Left-hander Cristopher Sánchez will pitch for Philadelphia. He was 13- 5 with a 2.50 ERA in the regular season. The Phillies were 23-9 in his starts.
Sánchez is 2-0 with a 4.01 ERA in four career starts against the Dodgers. He faced the Dodgers twice in 2025 with no record and a 5.68 ERA. He also pitched in the Sept. 16 game, allowing four runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Ohtani is 4-for-16 for a .250 batting average and two RBIs against Sánchez.
After giving up two unearned runs in the first inning Wednesday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired 13 consecutive batters, then pitched out of a no- outs, bases-loaded jam in the sixth in Game 2 of the best-of-three series.
Mookie Betts went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs. The final three batters in the Dodgers' lineup, Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas and Ben Rortvedt, each had two hits.
The Dodgers out-hit the Reds, 13-6, in front of a crowd announced at 50,465.
The Dodgers took the lead for good with one out in the fourth as Rojas singled in Hernández to break a 2-2 tie. Hernández had tied the score one batter earlier when he doubled in Max Muncy, who had led off the inning with a single.
The Reds loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth on singles by TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer and former Dodger Gavin Lux.
Betts, the Dodgers shortstop, fielded Austin Hays' line drive and threw to Rortvedt, the Dodgers catcher, who stepped on the plate for the force out of Friedl. Yamamoto struck out Sal Stewart on four pitches and Elly De La Cruz on six to end the inning.
The Dodgers broke the game open with four runs in their half of the sixth. Hernández led off with a single, moved to second on Rojas' ground out to Stewart, the Cincinnati first baseman, advanced to third when Stewart made a poor throw to pitcher Nick Martinez on a grounder hit by Rortvedt and scored on Ohtani's single.
Betts followed with a double, driving in Rortvedt. After Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked, Teoscar Hernández doubled in Ohtani and Betts to give the Dodgers a 7-2 lead.
Rojas led off the seventh with an infield single and scored three batters later when Betts doubled.
The Dodgers bullpen again proved ineffective in the eighth inning, allowing two runs after allowing three in the eighth inning of Tuesday's Game 1.
Lux led off with a single against Emmet Sheehan, the third Dodgers pitcher, and advanced to second on an error by Kiké Hernandez, the Dodgers left fielder. Austin Hays walked on seven pitches. Stewart singled in Lux. After a wild pitch moved Hays to third and Stewart to second, Elly De La Cruz walked on a full count to load the bases.
Hays scored on Tyler Stephenson's sacrifice fly, cutting the Dodgers' lead to 8-4.
Alex Vesia replaced Sheehan with a 1-2 count on Will Benson. Miguel Andujar pinch-hit for Benson and swung and missed on a 92.2-mph four-seem fastball. The strikeout was credited to Vesia and charged to Benson.
Vesia walked Matt McClain on a full count to load the bases, but struck out Friedl to end the inning.
Roki Sasaki pitched a perfect ninth for the Dodgers, striking out the first two batters, Steer and Lux, and retiring Hays on a line out to Betts.
The Reds combined a hit batter, a two-base error by Teoscar Hernández, the Dodgers' right fielder, and Stewart's single for two runs in the first.
Rortvedt doubled leading off the third, moved to third on Ohtani's ground out and scored on Betts' single.
Yamamoto (1-0) allowed two runs, both unearned, and four hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine and walking two.
Starter Zack Littell (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing three runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings, striking out two.
The Dodgers were 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position, Cincinnati 3-for-10. The Dodgers left 11 runs on base, two more than the Reds.
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