The debate over who is the greatest baseball player of all time ended Friday, Oct. 17.
Sorry for those of you still arguing in favor of Babe Ruth, but it’s Shohei Ohtani. Hands down. However, after Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched six scoreless innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the NLCS, there is a new debate: Did Ohtani deliver the greatest single-game performance in sports history?
Keep in mind, he homered in three times, belted one out of Dodger Stadium and had 10 strikeouts while giving up only two hits to propel the Dodgers into the World Series. About the only thing Ohtani failed to do was go Roy Hobbs and smash a home run into the stadium lights.
But in ranking the greatest-single game performances, Ohtani does not top the list.
Overcoming adversity
With the Dodgers up 3-0 going into Game 4 of the NLCS, the Brewers presented Ohtani a test of skill. But the situation did not test his ability to come through in the clutch.
There are two other athletes who did that on the biggest of stages.
“The Flu Game’ defined the greatness of Michael Jordan. He arrived for Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals with flu-like symptoms and with the series between Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz tied 2-2. Jordan had 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block.
The Bulls clinched the NBA Finals in Game 6.
At the 2008 U.S. Open, Tiger Woods was suffering from a fractured tibia and torn ACL. A day after forcing a playoff with Rocco Mediate, Woods limped his way to victory in dramatic fashion. With the match tied after the extra 18 holes, Woods won on the first hole of sudden death.
Delivering under pressure
Wayne Gretzky, arguably the greatest player in NHL history, has said his best performance was a five-goal game in a victory over the Soviet Union in the 1987 Canada Cup. We beg to differ.
Our vote for his greatest performance came when he played for the Los Angeles Kings and scored a hat trick in Game 7 of the conference finals in 1993. That lifted the Kings to a 5-4 victory and their first berth to the Stanley Cup Final.
Reggie Jackson didn’t pitch like Ohtani, but few delivered like Mr. October during the playoffs – especially in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. With the New York Yankees leading the Dodgers three games to two, Jackson hit three home runs on three pitches and led the Yankees to a championship-clinching 8-4 victory over the Dodgers.
The 2008 Wimbledon final, pitting Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal, was the greatest tennis match ever – and produced the greatest performance ever. With Nadal up two seats, Federer stormed back by evening the match at two sets apiece. But Nadal rebounded and won the tiebreak 9-7 to end the epic contest after four hours and 48 minutes.
Honorable mention
At the 2017 Super Bowl, Tom Brady played a vital role in leading the New England Patriots back from a 28-3 deficit against the Atlanta Falcons to a 34-28 victory in overtime. But it was running back James White scored the Patriots final two touchdowns
At age 17, soccer legend Pele scored two goals for Brazil in the 1958 World Cup but his hat-trick in a 5-2 victory against France in the semifinals of the same World Cup might have been even greater.
The greatest performance ever
The athlete who turned in the greatest performance ever was unable to explain the feat. That’s because it was a horse.
At the 1973 Belmont States, Secretariat won by an astounding 31 lengths and became a Triple Crown winner in front of a crowd of 69,138.
The 31-length victory remains the largest in Triple Crown history.