Shohei Ohtani’s two-Way masterclass gets LeBron James talking
Shohei Ohtani has spent most of the 2025 postseason rewriting baseball’s sense of possibility, but his most recent October performance may have pushed even seasoned athletes into disbelief.
That includes LeBron James, who, while navigating his own 23rd NBA season, found himself fascinated by what the Los Angeles Dodgers star accomplished on baseball’s biggest stage.
A postseason moment that didn’t feel real
The Dodgers’ run through the National League Championship Series already carried heavy expectations after Ohtani’s arrival in Los Angeles this season. But Game 4 against the Milwaukee Brewers delivered a moment that instantly became part of postseason lore.
According to reporting from DodgersNation and other U.S. outlets, Ohtani not only reached base in all four plate appearances and launched three home runs, but also took the mound and shut out Milwaukee for six innings with 10 strikeouts.
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For context, two-way performances of this scale are essentially absent from modern baseball. The last time MLB saw consistent two-way dominance was a century ago, long before specialized bullpens and analytics reshaped the sport.
Ohtani has revived that model single-handedly, and the stakes of the NLCS only magnified the spectacle.
LeBron’s reaction: “The same guy did both.”
James discussed the moment on the Mind The Game Podcast, the show he co-hosts during the NBA season. Reflecting on a private group chat with friends, he described how the room went silent before erupting with disbelief as the stat line circulated.
“If I sent y’all a message and said that a guy struck out ten batters in an NLCS, you guys would be like, ‘Oh, that was a hell of a game by that pitcher,’” James said on the episode. “And if I sent a separate text and said that in that same game another guy came in and had three home runs… The same guy did that. He did both of those.”
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James’ comments came shortly after he set his own milestone by becoming the first NBA player to appear in 23 seasons, a measure of longevity rarely matched in American sports. Yet even amid that achievement, he said Ohtani’s postseason performance felt “unreal” in a way few athletes ever produce.
Why Ohtani’s rise extends far beyond the field
Ohtani’s playoff surge is only part of why he has become MLB’s most visible figure. His $700 million deal with the Dodgers includes heavy deferrals, meaning he draws a modest $2 million salary this season, but his off-field impact dwarfs nearly every modern comparison.
According to multiple U.S. business and sports outlets, Ohtani is on pace to earn around $100 million in endorsements, licensing, and merchandise sales in 2025.
Before Ohtani, the highest annual endorsement figures for a baseball player rarely topped $10 million, a level once reached by Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki.
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This season alone, Ohtani has added several new global sponsors, a shift many analysts credit to both his move to Los Angeles and his unprecedented on-field production.
A star reshaping expectations
As the Dodgers push deeper into October, Ohtani’s influence is being felt in multiple corners of the sports world: fans stunned by the spectacle, baseball executives rethinking roster-building, and even athletes in entirely different leagues expressing admiration.
For James, the takeaway from Ohtani’s NLCS performance was simple, some feats don’t require explanation so much as acknowledgment.
MLB has often been described as a game resistant to change. But if Ohtani continues on this trajectory, the sport may be witnessing an era defined by accomplishments no one else in the modern game is built to replicate.
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Sources: DodgersNation, Mind The Game Podcast, AP, ESPN, MLB archival data.
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