The Los Angeles Dodgers are about to play the most important game of their season. Surely Shohei Ohtani, one of the greatest players of his generation, if not of all time, will be in the lineup, right?
Maybe not. The four-time MVP has looked far from himself this postseason, and manager Dave Roberts is considering benching Ohtani for Game 3 after the Dodgers dropped the first two games of the NLCS to the Milwaukee Brewers.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn’t been good,” Roberts told The Athletic. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.
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“I’ll have (that conversation) with him tomorrow.”
Ohtani has struggled mightily at the plate this postseason, hitting just .150 in 24 plate appearances with no extra-base hits. In Game 3 of the Dodgers’ NLDS win over the Atlanta Braves, Roberts dropped the slumping superstar to fifth in the batting order, his lowest lineup position since 2020.
The six-time All-Star also may not be fully healthy, as he missed about two weeks on the injured list with pain in both his left knee and right biceps late in the regular season. Ohtani hit his last home run Aug. 18 and has been mired in an extended slump ever since.
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Since Aug. 19, the two-time World Series champion has hit a paltry .157 with just one RBI while striking out in nearly 35% of his at-bats . While the numbers are startling, Ohtani’s at-bats suggest something isn’t right.
Instead of taking mammoth swings that strike fear into opposing pitchers and send crowds into a frenzy, he has turned into a slap hitter in October. Instead of swinging for power, as he normally does when healthy, Ohtani squared around to bunt while leading off the sixth inning of Monday’s loss.
The Dodgers have little margin for error as they look to overcome an 0-2 series deficit and advance to their third consecutive World Series. In their two losses in Milwaukee, they managed just five runs on 10 hits.
Benching Ohtani would send shock waves through the baseball world, but Roberts may feel he has no other option.
