Dodgers Manager Thinks Shohei Ohtani's On-Base Streak Ending is a Good Thing

After an incredible 53 straight games reaching base, Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar saw his streak snapped earlier on Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants.

Ohtani went 0-for-4 in the loss to San Francisco, ending his remarkable run that dated back to August 2025.

The slugger ended up tying Shawn Green for the longest on-base streak by a Dodgers player since the team moved to Los Angeles. But he did fall just short of breaking the overall franchise record of 58 games that was set by Duke Snider in 1958.

While the streak is now over, not everyone is upset about it. In fact, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees some positives from this for Ohtani moving forward.

“I do think just getting past that streak is something that might free him up a little bit, so we’ll see,” Roberts said.

The start to the 2026 season for Ohtani has been a little down, at least at the plate, with the star getting off to a slower start than usual. So far, Ohtani has hit .245 with five home runs, 11 runs batted in and just one stolen base over 25 games played.

However, the Dodgers' offense hasn't skipped a beat with Ohtani struggling, as they have the second-highest run differential in the big leagues. Los Angeles has plenty of other guys in the lineup that can hit, but Ohtani remains one of the more crucial players to this team.

Roberts tried to make some sense of the struggles at the plate for Ohtani amid his slow start.

“He’s expanding down,” Roberts said. “It’s just really hard to slug on balls at the bottom of the zone and that’s what he’s doing. If we can get him back at the belt and swing at those balls you’ll see the production. But, yeah, he’s expanding down.”

Being the leadoff hitter for the Dodgers, there is some level of pressure on Ohtani to get on base, helping to set the tone in his at-bats. Ohtani has done well to get on base, and now he'll focus on being more consistent at the plate with the streak over with.

While his hitting hasn't been up to par this year, Ohtani has been excellent on the other side of his two-way play. The right-handed pitcher has been one of the best pitchers in baseball to open the season, and he is in the early conversation for the National League Cy Young award.

Ohtani has made four starts for the Dodgers, putting up an ERA of 0.38 over 24 innings of work. The superstar has been pretty much unhittable on the mound, and the Dodgers have benefited greatly from this.

The team will need him to get going at the plate at some point. However, Los Angeles isn't worried about their two-way star, and it's only a matter of time before Ohtani fully breaks out.

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