Is Shohei Ohtani back? Dodgers star snaps unbelievable drought with Game 4 home run originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Is Shohei Ohtani back? Even if he is, it could be too late for the Dodgers — but they were undoubtedly thrilled to see him go deep for the first time in nearly two months in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday.
Back at the top of the lineup after Dave Roberts said he liked his swings in Game 3, Ohtani took advantage of Milwaukee's Dusty May and blasted a 3-run home run early in Game 4 to give the Dodgers a four-run advantage.
It looked much like what Ohtani would do multiple times a week when he was fully healthy, right down to an epic bat flip.
Here's a look at Ohtani's home run and the extended drought it snapped.
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Shohei Ohtani Game 4 home run
Facing former Dodger Dustin May with two runners on base, Ohtani turned a one-run game into a four-run game in the second inning:
SHOHEI OHTANI HOME RUN https://t.co/HSlZDqSDNj
— MLB (@MLB) October 16, 2026
Ohtani doesn't always wear his emotions on his sleeve, but you can almost see the weight lift off his shoulders as soon as he hits this one. Ohtani threw up his arms and flipped the bat, animatedly celebrating perhaps his most meaningful moment of the season.
Time will tell whether Ohtani's home run jolted enough life into the Dodgers to make a historic comeback possible, but the four-time MVP hitting to his potential makes it that much more possible.
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Shohei Ohtani home run drought
Ohtani's home run on Thursday was his first since Aug. 18, a nearly two-month drought.
While Ohtani did spend about two weeks on the injured list with a knee issue in September and had a five-day stretch without games as the Dodgers waited for their NLDS opponent, that's a baffling statistic for a player who hit 55 home runs in 2025.
Ohtani went 25 consecutive games without a home run and had only 1 RBI in that span, but he quickly tripled that total by driving in three runs on Thursday's blast.
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