LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers are making a futures bet.
“At some point, it’s going to click for him. And the other team’s going to be in big trouble when that happens,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said of Shohei Ohtani as the Dodgers celebrated a National League Division Series victory to which Ohtani contributed little.
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Dropped to fifth in the Dodgers’ batting order for Game 3 and fourth in Game 4 – as low as he had been in a batting order since Sept. 2020 – Ohtani went 2 for 13 (.154) with a pair of singles and two walks in the four games against the Atlanta Braves. That extended a slump during which Ohtani has gone without a home run since Aug. 18, batting .157 (13 for 83) in that time with just one extra-base hit in his past 70 plate appearances.
“He’s scuffling right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged after Game 4 in Atlanta. “But I really believe that he’s going to come to life at some point. And I believe in him. Our players believe in him.
“It’s just good to know that we can still win a series when he’s not doing what we all know he can do.”
They should already have known that. Vexed by the left-handed pitchers deployed by the Philadelphia Phillies in last year’s NLDS, Ohtani went 1 for 18 with nine strikeouts in four games.
The Dodgers faced the Milwaukee Brewers in the next round – just as they are this year – and Ohtani went 5 for 14, earning the NLCS MVP award with a three-home run game while also pitching six scoreless innings to close out the series in four games.
“We’re going to have the best version of Shohei really soon,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said in the celebratory locker room on Wednesday, echoing Friedman and Roberts. “I’m positive that what Shohei is doing right now is helping the team as well, because just with having him in the lineup, it’s always a big thing for us. And we’re looking forward for him to kind of come through out of the slump or whatever he’s going through, and he’s gonna help us win the championship, for sure.”
Roberts has pointed to poor swing decisions as the biggest factor in Ohtani’s prolonged slump – whether those decisions were affected by physical issues or not. Better decisions during the NLDS have given Roberts hope that Ohtani is headed in the right direction.
“Outside of (Game 3 starter Chris) Sale, I thought he did a good job of controlling the zone. I saw some better swings,” Roberts said. “There’s nothing right now I’m going to hang my hat on outside of, I just believe in the person and the talent. I do think that getting a couple days out of a game environment to kind of work on his swing, rest the body, rest the mind is a benefit.
“I’m just never going to count Shohei out.”
Roberts said he has hasn’t decided yet where Ohtani will bat in the lineup on Sunday. It could be “anywhere from two to five,” he said, with Mookie Betts at leadoff.
PITCHING PLAN
Tarik Skubal will reprise his role as the Dodgers’ Game 1 starter in the Division Series against the Atlanta Braves and start Sunday’s NLCS opener against the Brewers.
But the Dodgers will switch Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the order with Yamamoto starting Game 2 in Milwaukee on Monday afternoon.
The move allows the Dodgers (if necessary) to start Skubal in Game 5 in Los Angeles on four days of rest (which he has done 53 times in his career) and Yamamoto in Game 6 back in Milwaukee on five days of rest – he has not started a game on less than five days’ rest in three seasons with the Dodgers.
Yamamoto’s past five postseason appearances have all come on the road. He is 5-0 with a 1.07 ERA in those games, including two complete games and back-to-back relief appearances in last year’s World Series.
ROJAS STATUS
Roberts said Rojas had imaging on his lower back after suffering an injury in Game 3 of the NLDS and being held out of Game 4.
“A lot of it was kind of stuff that he has had prior history,” Roberts said.
Rojas took ground balls and batting practice during Friday’s workout and Roberts called it “encouraging” and “a step in the right direction” but “nothing definitive” has been decided about Rojas’ status for the NLCS.
“See how he comes in tomorrow for the workout there (in Milwaukee),” Roberts said.
“I just think that there’s no upside in announcing it yet when we still have a plane flight. There’s another workout. There’s no deadline right now. … We have time to ultimately make that decision.”
The NLCS roster does not have to be submitted until Sunday morning.
The Dodgers will drop a position player – most likely Hyeseong Kim – from the roster and add a 13th pitcher for the NLCS. Justin Wrobleski, Jack Dreyer or Emmet Sheehan could be the pitcher added.
UP NEXT
NLCS Game 1 – Dodgers (LHP Tarik Skubal, 1-0, 1.50 ERA) at Brewers (RHP Jacob Misiorowski, 0-0, 4.50 ERA), Sunday, 5 p.m. PT, FOX (Ch. 11), 570 AM
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