Can Shohei Ohtani Find His Form? The Dodgers’ Season Is Riding On It

Shohei Ohtani insists that he can play, that his symptoms “have subdued a lot,” and that his “No. 1 priority is for the team to win.” Now, after looking completely out of sorts to start the postseason, it’s on him to show it. The Dodgers’ season rests, at least in part, on his candidness. “I did speak to Sho, had a great conversation,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He’s adamant he feels good enough to be in there. He’s close to finding something with his swing. I feel great about it.” The Brewers present an exhausting challenge. They wear opponents out with long at-bats, refusing to chase out of the zone or relent when they get down. They overpower hitters with a bevy of hard-throwing, whiff-inducing pitchers, who attack from different arm angles. They run the bases well and defend soundly. This was the formula for winning a franchise-record 103 games. And, apart from some uncharacteristic errors this October, they have carried most of those same traits onto the sport’s biggest stage. It should come as little surprise that the best team in baseball looks the part. What has been startling, though, is the way they’ve also neutralized everything that made the reigning back-to-back champions seem like such an inevitable force. For all of the Dodgers’ flaws, they could rely on one of the most talented collections of starting pitchers ever assembled. They had won each of their last eight games started by deadline addition Tarik Skubal … until the back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner fell victim to the Brewers’ unyielding attack in Game 1 of the NLCS. They had won each of their last five postseason games in which Yoshinobu Yamamoto made an appearance … until the Brewers chased the reigning World Series MVP in the third inning of Game 2, marking the shortest playoff outing of Yamamoto’s already illustrious career. They could usually count on the power of an offense that homered eight times in their first four games of the postseason … until they went homerless in each of their first two games of the series in Milwaukee. And unless their superhero can magically rediscover his powers over the next few days, the Dodgers’ three-peat dreams could disappear right alongside Ohtani’s swing. “I do think that Shohei has taken this as a personal challenge,” Roberts said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not a one-man show. It’s got to be all of us, myself included, who have got to be better.” Still, the team’s offensive struggles start with the four-time MVP, who hasn’t homered since Aug. 18 and is hitting .150 with no extra-base hits this postseason. “They’re being careful, the same way like if he was doing an MVP season,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández told me. “It’s not like he’s been getting pitches to hit. It’s going to be even tougher, especially when you’re in a slump like that, to come through because they’re not going to let you get out.” Dating back to Aug. 19, and including the start to the postseason, Ohtani has knocked in one run over his last 24 games. That stretch included a two-week respite, during which the Dodgers finally placed him on the injured list in the middle of September, acknowledging the reality that had been clear to anyone who watched him for months: Ohtani was hurting, and the right biceps and left knee issues that prevented him from pitching were also impacting him at the plate. Ohtani said before the playoffs that he still doesn’t have “a good grasp of the root” of his aches and pains, but he thought he could power through. “I think in his mind, he thought the best way to help the team was to go out and play, which I respect,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said after Ohtani returned from the IL in September. “But us staying really connected and sharing that information, I think, will be really important going forward. And again, the communication back and forth has been awesome. The fully sharing exactly how he’s feeling, maybe not as awesome.” So, how can they confidently trust him now? “I would say the word I would use is conviction,” Roberts said. “He was very convicted that he is onto something mechanically. He was adamant that he can help us. He’s well enough to help us win a baseball game. So, that’s all I needed to hear.” Whether Ohtani’s lack of production now is due to the pain from his injuries, his swing mechanics getting out of sync due to those injuries or a combination of both, the end result has been a superstar reduced to a compromised form. His three walks, three singles and seven strikeouts in 20 at-bats this postseason have produced a meager .411 OPS. “It’s hard to see,” said Mookie Betts. “But he’s working and hopefully he gets out of it. We know he’s working. But, yeah, that’s a big one. We need him, for sure.” No one can replace Ohtani when he’s at his best. In this form, though, they do have one intriguing alternative. Had Ohtani required a break, rookie Josue De Paula would have been the most obvious replacement. The 21-year-old lefty didn’t make his MLB debut until Sept. 11, but he has looked poised with his opportunities. In three pinch-hit appearances this postseason, he has reached base twice via walks. That card, however, sounds unlikely to be played. Roberts had a conversation with Ohtani during Tuesday’s workout day to see if he needed a day or two off. Ohtani insisted he did not. “At the end of the day, in this big moment, we’re listening to Shohei, and we’re going to support the crap out of him and believe in him,” Roberts said, “and that’s it.” The Dodgers, two losses away from their season ending, can’t afford for their DH to continue looking like a shell of himself for much longer. When the sixth inning began in Game 2 of the NLCS, Ohtani showed bunt, a glaring sign that the designated hitter’s struggles might also be yielding a lack of confidence. The end result of the at-bat was one that has become far too common: a flailing strikeout on a pitch out of the zone. He finished the night 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. “It’s tough,” Hernández said. “We obviously need his help. He’s a big, big part of this team. It’s really important. I feel bad for him. I know what he’s capable of. He’s been dealing with some stuff in the past. We don’t know if it’s still there, but it’s Shohei. Any moment, he can come through.” Time is running short to see if or when that will happen. The struggles had reached a point that the Dodgers were at least considering giving their star DH a reset with their season on the line. Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell said he would have been shocked if that happened. “He’s the greatest player in the game, arguably going down as the best player ever,” Mitchell said. “This game is very hard. One day you can be on top of the world, and on the next you’re hitting the lowest of lows.” That’s where Ohtani finds himself now. As rough as it has looked, it seems the Dodgers will ride this out with him as far as it will go. “He knows we’re all still behind him,” said Max Muncy. ” I can tell you right now, he’s going to get a big hit for us at some point. And that’s going to turn things.”