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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
My gosh. What a night for Shohei Ohtani, as the Dodgers are on their way to the World Series, while Seattle grand slams the Blue Jays. And how does this all affect a possible labor stoppage? We're going to bring in sports writer Howard Bryant. Howard, thanks for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: Last night was a night for history.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: One and two, the count.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: Ohtani. Did he? Ohtani. Ohtani has done it again. His third home run.
SIMON: Not only three home runs, Howard. He was the winning pitcher - 10 strikeouts. Dodgers won 4-0, swept the Milwaukee Brewers. How do we begin to capture what Ohtani accomplished?
BRYANT: Well, I think the best way is just to watch. We like to throw around a lot of terms, Scott. We love our superlatives in America, don't we? But we've never seen anything like this. I mean, you got to go back to Babe Ruth. If you have to go back to Babe Ruth for a comparison, I think you're watching something pretty special. This is a phenomenal talent. He's the face of the sport and should be the face of the baseball world. And to do what he does - he really wasn't even hitting that well, but that's what great players do. They show up when it's time to show up. And no runs, two hits, 10 strikeouts, three home runs. As the ballplayers will say in the clubhouse, it's video game stuff. He's incredible.
SIMON: Yeah. I don't think there's ever been a player close to him in baseball history.
BRYANT: Well, I mean, when you're a kid and you're playing, you specialize very quickly. They discourage you from pitching if you're a really good hitter. They discourage...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...You from hitting if you're - and he's like, no. I'm going to do both. And I think, also, the other thing - I don't know if it shows up on television. He's huge. He's 6 foot 4, 6'4 1/2". He's just a pure athlete. And when you watch him play, you look, and you just - are just at a marvel. It's why we watch these sports, to watch these incredible athletes do things...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...That we only dream of.
SIMON: Meanwhile, the American League. Seattle defeated the Blue Jays 6-2, take a 3-2 game lead in the American League. Exciting game. Game 6 tomorrow in Toronto. What do you think? Goes to a Game 7?
BRYANT: Yeah, and it's a game that...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: It's a game Toronto had to have. It was a game Seattle had to have. On the one hand, Seattle wins the first two games on the road, and then Toronto comes back and wins two games also on the road. So this was the first game in the series that the home team had actually won. It's the pivotal game. Whoever wins this game is one game away from the World Series. Seattle has never been to the World Series. And Toronto didn't have the game, but they were in control of the game. They had so many opportunities to blow the game open. And Seattle showed once again, just like Ohtani, you've got Cal Raleigh. You've got Suarez. You've got these...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Players. These are the guys that you want in your corner when it's time - when it's go time. And last night, for a lot of that game, you could hear a pin drop. There was a lot of dread. And then, suddenly five-run eighth inning, and now Seattle is one game away.
SIMON: Yes, that grand slam. Listen. Jeff Passan wrote for ESPN recently that the Dodger-Brewer series is a kind of proxy war between owners and players because owners claim the Dodgers, with all their stars on a huge payroll, their success confirms the sport needs a salary cap. Smaller markets need a chance. Milwaukee, of course, had the best regular season record but clearly was crushed by the Dodgers. Does the Dodger victory show that small-market teams just can't compete?
BRYANT: No. The smaller - the Dodger victory shows that the Dodgers were a better team and Milwaukee wasn't as good. And if you look at how the Dodgers have become the Dodgers - did the Boston Red Sox have to trade Mookie Betts? No. Did the Atlanta Braves have to get rid of Freddie Freeman and let him go to the Dodgers? No. Did the Angels have to let Shohei Ohtani go? No. I mean, this is baseball's way of doing what they've been doing since 1975.
For the last 50 years, they have been fighting themselves. They don't share their own revenue, yet they blame the players, and they want a salary cap for their own purposes. It's a golden age of baseball with the Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge and the Cal Raleigh in a post-steroid-era time, and they want to fight over money. Maybe they should fix their own house first. And by the way, salary caps aren't going to make the game any cheaper. Look at football. Look at basketball. Look at hockey. It's just not the way.
SIMON: Sports writer Howard Bryant, thanks so much. Talk to you soon.
BRYANT: Oh, my pleasure, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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