Shohei Ohtani finally put words to what has been plain for weeks. He is playing through a right biceps injury and a left knee injury. He spent 12 days on the injured list in September, and he has not pitched since July 3.
“The results, I take full responsibility,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. He said the symptoms “have subdued a lot,” and added that they “shouldn’t be the reason why I can’t hit.”
Dave Roberts then filled out his Game 3 lineup card with Ohtani hitting fourth. Betts at short, Freeman at first, Teoscar Hernandez in left, Ohtani at designated hitter, Will Smith catching and hitting fifth, Pages in center, Kyle Tucker in right, Kike Hernandez at third, Miguel Rojas at second. That is the right card for a team trailing Milwaukee 2-0.
The slump is as ugly as it looks
Ohtani is 3-for-20 this postseason, a .150 average, with no extra-base hits, seven strikeouts and three walks. He is 1-for-8 in the NLCS. He has gone 110 plate appearances without a home run, the longest stretch of his career.
His last homer came Aug. 18 at Coors Field, and he has one RBI since. Over his last 24 games he is 11-for-70, a .157 average, with zero home runs. Stretch it to his last 35 games including October and he is hitting .197 with a .629 OPS. The hardest ball he has struck in this series is an 86.2 mph flyout off Aaron Ashby in Game 2.
One number argues the other way
Ohtani has seen 40.7 percent of his pitches in the strike zone this postseason, the sixth-lowest rate among the 26 hitters who have seen at least 100 pitches. Nobody is challenging him. A slumping hitter who is still being pitched around that carefully is a hitter the other dugout refuses to trust, whatever the batting average says.
That is the case for keeping him in the middle of the order. A fourth-place hitter drawing that treatment pushes traffic and favorable counts toward whoever follows him. With Will Smith 1-for-23 hitting fifth, the Dodgers are hardly swimming in better arrangements anyway.
Roberts is backing the player, and he has done it before
“He’s adamant he feels good enough to be in there,” Roberts said. The manager added that Ohtani is “close to finding something with his swing” and is convinced he is “onto something mechanically.” Roberts compared the call to the one he made on Freddie Freeman during the 2024 postseason, a comparison he would not reach for if he had any intention of moving Ohtani down.
There is also the matter of who Ohtani was before his body turned on him. He hit .275 with a .377 on-base percentage and a .512 slugging mark with 30 home runs this season, and on the mound he threw 85 and 2/3 innings with a 1.79 ERA before the injuries ended that half of his job.
He is not the only Dodger taped together. Freeman is managing a right knee problem of his own. Blake Treinen’s right shoulder inflammation makes him unlikely to pitch again this postseason, and Will Klein is a depth option working through right elbow discomfort. Milwaukee, for its part, has no injuries on its active roster.
Game 3 is Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium, with the Brewers two wins from the World Series. The Dodgers need their best hitter to look like himself for roughly three days. Writing him anywhere but fourth would be managing for the box score instead of the series.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.