The “MVP!” chants echoed through Dodger Stadium when Shohei Ohtani came to bat in the eighth inning on Sunday night. No surprise there. The Dodgers slugger has been serenaded with such chants for most of the season and will likely be a unanimous choice to win the National League Most Valuable Player award in November.
But then those same chants returned three batters later, when Dodgers cleanup man Tommy Edman, all 6-foot-4 and 193 pounds of him, stepped into the box for his final at-bat of an NL Championship Series, clinching a 10-5 Game . 6 win over the New York Mets? Now That was a shock.
“Yes, I could hear them – it was crazy,” Edman said during another riveting clubhouse party full of sparkling wine, beer, cigar smoke and heart-pounding music. “Absolutely nothing I ever expected. It’s pretty wild to be in this situation.”
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And guaranteed. On a team full of superstars, including a future three-time MVP in Ohtani, former MVPs in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw, it was Edman who hoisted the NLCS MVP trophy over his head in the victory stand. his teammates, coaches and a crowd of 52,674 people cheered him on.
And how did that trophy feel?
“Tough,” said Edman, the unassuming utility man acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-team trade deadline deal. “It felt great to pick it up.”
Edman did much of the heavy lifting for the Dodgers on Sunday night, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead with his two-run double to left field in the first inning – the first lead change in an NLCS featured lopsided scores — and follows Teoscar Hernández’s leadoff single in the third with a two-run home run to left center for a 4-1 lead.
The switch-hitter reached on a fielder’s choice grounder and scored in the eighth to cap an NLCS in which he hit .407 (11 for 27) with an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.023, one homer, three doubles and 11 RBIs, tying Corey Seager’s franchise record for RBIs in an NLCS, set in 2020 against the Atlanta Braves.
“It’s pretty crazy, especially given the history of the organization, to connect that [RBI] record,” Edman said. “But it’s a testament to the guys on the team. Our whole lineup was really good. I kept getting up with guys on base and had a lot of opportunities to drive in points.”
Edman had an RBI double and a two-run double from the cleanup spot in a 10-2 Game 4 win over the Mets in New York. He said batting fourth “is still weird to me,” and even manager Dave Roberts said, “I never thought when we bought him we’d be hitting fourth in a postseason game.”
But with middle hitter Freeman sidelined by a right ankle sprain, the Mets started left-hander Sean Manaea — who limited the Dodgers to two earned runs and two hits in five innings of New York’s 7-3 Game 2 victory — and Edman a much more dangerous batting from the right side, it was the right choice on Sunday evening.
After Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with a single to center and took third on Teoscar Hernández’s single from the center field wall, Edman fell behind 1-and-2 in the count, but was left at a rate of 129 mph, and-out sweeper, who stuck a two-run double into the left field corner for a 2-1 lead.
“Manaea really made a good pitch with the backdoor sweeper,” said Andrew Friedman, the team’s president of baseball operations. “His ability to ride that out and hook it down the line, I think, was really deflating for Manaea.”
Edman’s home run in the third inning, with Teoscar Hernández aboard, was a bit of a dagger. Manaea took the lead with another 1-2 count, trying to slip a 90 mph fastball above the zone past Edman, who lofted a ball that left his bat at 105 mph and 400 feet to spare cleared the left-center field wall for a 4-1 lead.
“I heard some people call him ‘Little Guy Tommy’ on TV, but there’s nothing small about his bat,” said fellow company man Kiké Hernández. “He has a lot of pop, especially from the right side. He carried the offense in this series. He’s locked up. The job is done. MVP.”
Edman opened the playoffs in center field, but moved to shortstop in the third game of the NL Division Series against San Diego when Miguel Rojas aggravated a left adductor strain. Rojas hopes to return for the World Series against the New York Yankees, but if he is activated, it will likely be as a backup.
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Edman, who is hitting .341 (15 for 44) with an .810 OPS, one homer, three doubles and 12 RBIs in 11 playoff games, will likely remain at shortstop, and Kiké Hernández, who is hitting .303 (10 for 33) ) with an .863 OPS, two home runs and five RBIs, remains in the lineup in center field or at third base.
“I think Tommy was undoubtedly the MVP,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “Not only in this series … he came in the middle of the season, but he did a very good job, including things that don’t show up in numbers. I think he’s a great player.”
Roberts added: “I trust him. The boys trust him. He made huge defensive plays for us and had huge hits. We are just very happy with a player like Tommy.”
Edman missed the first four months of the season while recovering from wrist surgery and an ankle sprain and did not play his first game with the Dodgers until August 19. He hit .237 with a .711 OPS, six home runs and 20 RBIs in 37 games, and although he finished the season with a 2-for-30 slump, he suffered his stroke in October.
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Another big night at the plate for Edman, crowned with NLCS MVP honors, made for an emotional evening in Section 105 of the Lodge level of Dodger Stadium, where the Edman family, including father John, Tommy’s baseball coach at the La Jolla Country Day School , Sat.
“We definitely got a little teary-eyed,” John Edman said. “I mean, it was obviously a difficult season for him because he didn’t know when he was going to be ready because of the injury, and I think he was quite frustrated. It’s so special that it turns out this way.
“When he hit the double, we went crazy. When he hit the home run, the whole section went crazy. And the MVP chants… those blew me away. It was great.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
