When Shohei Ohtani batted in the eighth inning on Sunday night, screams of “MVP!” rang around Dodger Stadium. There’s no surprise there. The Dodgers slugger has been serenaded with similar shouts for the most of the season and is expected to be a consensus choice for the National League most valuable player award in November.
But when the identical cries resurfaced three batters later, as Dodgers cleanup man Tommy Edman, all 5-foot-10, 193 pounds, walked into the box for his final at-bat in an NL Championship Series-clinching 10-5 Game 6 win against the New York Mets? That was a stunner.
“Yeah, I could hear them — it was crazy,” Edman recounted during another wild clubhouse party, complete with sparkling wine, beer, cigar smoke, and heart-pounding music. “Definitely not what I expected. To be in this scenario is somewhat wild.”
And justified. On a team full of superstars, including a soon-to-be three-time MVP in Ohtani and former MVPs Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Clayton Kershaw, it was Edman who raised the NLCS MVP trophy above his head on the victory stand in front of his teammates, coaches, and a crowd of 52,674 fans.
What did the trophy feel like?
“Heavy,” remarked Edman, an unassuming utility player acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-team trade deadline deal. “It felt awesome picking it up.”
On Sunday night, Edman did much of the heavy lifting for the Dodgers, 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 marked by lopsided scores — and then following 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 inning to cap an NLCS in which he hit.407 (11 for 27) with a 1.023 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, one homer, three doubles, and 11 RBIs, tying Corey Seager’s franchise record of 11 RBIs in an NLCS set in 2020 against the Atlanta Braves.
“It’s pretty crazy, especially with the history of the organization, to have tied that [RBI] record,” says Edman. “But it’s a credit to the players on the team. Our entire lineup was quite good. I kept getting up with guys on base and had plenty of chances to drive in runs.”
In a 10-2 victory over the Mets in New York, Edman hit an RBI double and a two-run double from cleanup. He claimed batting fourth “is still weird to me,” and manager Dave Roberts added, “I never imagined when we acquired him that he’d be hitting fourth in a postseason game.”
But with middle-of-the-order hitter Freeman out with a right-ankle sprain, the Mets’ starting left-hander Sean Manaea — who held the Dodgers to two earned runs and two hits in five innings of New York’s 7-3 Game 2 victory — and Edman a far more dangerous right-handed hitter, it was the right call Sunday night.
After Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with a single to center and moved to third on Teoscar Hernández’s single off the center-field wall, Edman fell down 1-and-2 in the count but stayed back on a 79-mph, down-and-away sweeper, poking a two-run double into the left-field corner for a 2-1 advantage.
“Manaea actually made a really good pitch with the backdoor sweeper,” stated Andrew Friedman, the team’s head of baseball operations. “His ability to ride that out and hook it down the line, I think, was really deflating for Manaea.”
Edman’s third-inning homer, with Teoscar Hernández on base, was a bit of a dagger. Manaea moved ahead with another 1-2 count and attempted to slip a 91-mph fastball over the zone past Edman, who blasted a ball 406 feet over 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,” observed fellow utility player Kiké Hernández. “He has a lot of pop, particularly on the right side. He led the offensive in this series. He’s locked in. Got the job done. MVP.”
Edman began the playoffs in center field but switched to shortstop in the third game of the NL Division Series against San Diego after Miguel Rojas exacerbated a left-adductor strain. Rojas hopes to return for the World Series against the New York Yankees, but if he is activated, he will most likely play as a reserve.
Edman, who is batting.341 (15 for 44) with an.810 OPS, one homer, three doubles, and 12 RBIs in 11 playoff games, will most likely stay at shortstop, while Kiké Hernández, who is batting.303 (10 for 33) with an.863 OPS, two homers, and five RBIs, will remain in the lineup in center field or third base.
“I think Tommy was undoubtedly the MVP,” Ohtani remarked in Japanese. “Although he arrived in the middle of the season, he excelled in areas that are not easily measured. “I think he’s an excellent player.”
Roberts added, “I trust him. The guys believe him. He’s made significant defensive plays for us and delivered big hits. We are just extremely blessed to have a player like Tommy.
Edman missed the first four months of the season while recovering from wrist surgery and an ankle sprain, and he didn’t play his first game for the Dodgers until August 19. He hit.237 with a.711 OPS, six home runs, and 20 RBIs in 37 games, and despite a two-for-30 slump at the end of the season, he recovered his stroke in October.
Another strong performance at the plate for Edman, topped by an NLCS MVP award, made for an emotional night in section 105 of Dodger Stadium’s Loge level, where the Edman family, including Tommy’s baseball coach from La Jolla Country Day School, were seated.
“We definitely got a little teary-eyed,” John Edman explained. “I mean, it was obviously a difficult season for him with the injuries, not knowing when he’d be ready, and I believe he was unhappy. It’s truly remarkable that it turned out this way.
“When he hit a double, we went crazy. When he hit the home run, the entire area went crazy. The MVP chants blew me away. “It was amazing.”
