Dodgers Have Proven They Don't Need Shohei Ohtani’s Best to Win in October

MLB’s biggest star continued his lengthy slump in Tuesday’s Game 3, but Los Angeles still beat Atlanta to get within one win of advancing to the NLCS.

Shohei Ohtani has slumped in the postseason, but it hasn’t prevented the Dodgers from winning. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Shohei Ohtani hasn’t been playing like his usual self for quite a while now. Injuries have impacted him throughout the year, and are the likely cause of the second-half slump he endured, which has now leaked into the postseason.

Ohtani played in just 47 games during the second half of the season, and by his standards, his numbers were rather underwhelming. After hitting 22 home runs and recording 58 RBIs and a .953 OPS in 88 games during the first half, Ohtani had a .772 OPS with eight homers and 23 RBIs after the All-Star break. He walked less often, struck out more and saw his batting average dip from .293 to .245 between the first and second halves of the season.

SI TV Original Documentary: “Ohtani: Made in Iwate”

Since Aug. 19, Ohtani hasn’t hit a single home run and has registered just one RBI. That’s a span that extends more than 95 plate appearances. He’s had just one extra-base hit in his last 16 games, postseason included. In three playoff games, he’s 2-for-10 with a pair of singles and three strikeouts.

Ohtani was dropped to fifth in the L.A. lineup for Game 3, the lowest he’s hit in any batting order since 2020. He went hitless in the 3–1 win, striking out badly in his first plate appearance before getting aboard via a catcher’s interference in his next at-bat. He then flied out and walked to round out a quiet evening. Still, despite getting little out of Ohtani, it didn’t matter much for the Dodgers.

L.A. scored three runs off Chris Sale—courtesy of home runs from frequent postseason heroes Kiké Hernandez and Freddie Freeman—and received a gem of an outing on the mound from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who struck out a career-playoff high 10 hitters and surrendered just one run across seven innings of work. With such elite pitching, they don’t need to run up the score to win games. As long as they get some semblance of production from their lineup, the Dodgers can compete in any game on any night.

With L.A.’s star power and remarkable depth, Ohtani’s prolonged slump hasn’t been a big problem. If one player, even one of Ohtani’s caliber, isn’t getting the job done, they have a bevy of other experienced sluggers who can. This is a loaded lineup with contributors from top to bottom.

Kiké Hernandez launched a two-run homer in Game 3 to give the Dodgers all the runs they’d need. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

L.A. plated five runs in Game 1 and rode a dominant outing from Tarik Skubal to jump out to an early series lead. Then, they got after Chris Sale in Game 3, even after he struck out six batters in the first two innings. Hernandez, who had yet to draw a start this postseason, launched his 17th career postseason home run off Sale in the fourth inning. That made Dave Roberts look like a genius for his decision to start him on Tuesday. Freddie Freeman followed that up with a solo shot of his own, and he now has two homers in the series despite not flexing much power down the stretch of the regular season. Now, the Dodgers have guaranteed the possibility of returning to Los Angeles in this series for Game 5, if they even need it.

For most teams, their biggest star playing at a high level is a critical component of their success. That’s simply not the case for the Dodgers, and they’ve proven it early on in the postseason. They’re one win away from advancing to their third consecutive NLCS, and that’s with Ohtani still ice cold at the plate. Ohtani will certainly want, and expect, more out of himself, but seeing his team succeed without him making his usual impact will alleviate some of the pressure that comes with being MLB’s biggest superstar in the bright lights of October.

Ohtani will have another chance to turn things around at the plate in Game 4, when Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Braves. It’s not a favorable matchup for the 32-year-old, however, as he’s just 1-for-12 all time against Mahle in his career, with four strikeouts, no walks and no extra-base hits. As long as the Dodgers keep winning, Ohtani’s slump won’t be too much of an issue. Still, this is a guy who hit eight home runs and had a 1.096 OPS during last year’s run to the World Series, and he’ll be determined to correct his flaws at the plate and become a big contributor as L.A. pursues the coveted three-peat.

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