The Los Angeles Dodgers are considering benching Shohei Ohtani for Game 3 of the National League Championship Series after the four-time MVP went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night. The defeat put Los Angeles down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic the team would have “a conversation” with Ohtani about his status before Game 3. Ohtani has been playing through right arm and left knee issues that the team has acknowledged limit him to well below full health.
Over six playoff games this postseason, Ohtani is 3-for-20 with three singles, two walks and seven strikeouts. Entering Monday’s game, he had at least reached base safely in each of his first five playoff appearances, but Tuesday’s performance marked a clear step backward.
Before the game, Ohtani took batting practice on the field for a third straight day, a departure from his usual routine of hitting only in indoor cages. Coaches had been encouraged by what they saw, noting he was driving the ball to the opposite field. “I feel good [with] where he’s at,” Roberts said Sunday. “[He is] certainly not 100 percent, but it’s good enough.”
That assessment did not hold up in Tuesday’s loss, when the Dodgers managed just three hits as a team and were retired in all 15 at-bats against Brewers relievers. Ohtani struck out swinging on three pitches in the first inning, grounded out weakly to third in the second, and lost his bat attempting to check a swing against a slider in the sixth. He flied out harmlessly to left in the ninth.
The Dodgers now trail 2-0 with the series shifting to Los Angeles. Only one team in major league history — Roberts’ 2004 Boston Red Sox — has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series, and the Dodgers are one loss away from facing that scenario.
“Can we [come back in this series]? Absolutely,” Roberts said. “But it’s just, you want to get that first [win].”
Who could replace him
If the Dodgers sit Ohtani for Game 3, when the Brewers are set to start left-hander Robert Gasser, rookie Josue De Paula is considered the most likely replacement at designated hitter. The 21-year-old has reached base in more than half of his 45 big-league plate appearances since being called up from Double-A in September, including a pair of key walks as a pinch-hitter during the postseason.
Other options include shifting right-handed hitter Kiké Hernández, who was benched in favor of Tommy Edman for Game 2, back into the lineup, or using the DH spot for Miguel Rojas, who is nursing a back injury suffered during the NLDS.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has said he expects Ohtani’s performance to improve, predicting “at some point, it’s going to click for him.” But with the Dodgers facing elimination from their bid for a third straight World Series title, the team may no longer be able to wait for that turnaround.
