MILWAUKEE –– Entering Monday night, the Dodgers were not giving serious consideration to removing Shohei Ohtani from their lineup.
One big loss, and four ugly at-bats later, however, that previously steadfast plan suddenly seemed capable of changing.
Following a 7-4 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers that put the Dodgers in a two-game hole in their National League Championship Series, the team was set to re-evaluate Ohtani’s status ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday.
Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic that the team would have “a conversation” with Ohtani about whether or not he would be in the lineup for the contest. A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the California Post that the decision would come down to whether Ohtani still felt healthy enough to remain the starting designated hitter, as ESPN also reported.
The development came after Ohtani’s worst performance this postseason, in which he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Over six games in these playoffs, the four-time MVP is now just 3-for-20 with only three singles, two walks and seven strikeouts while battling ongoing right arm and left knee issues –– playing at what the team has repeatedly acknowledged is well less than 100%.
Despite all that, the Dodgers have also been holding out hope for a revival from their two-way superstar. Roberts promised Ohtani would “come to life” eventually. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman predicted that “at some point, it’s going to click for him.”
Now, however, the Dodgers might not be able to keep waiting around for Ohtani magic.
After back-to-back losses to open the NLCS in Milwaukee this week, they return home to Los Angeles just two more defeats away from elimination –– and only one from a 3-0 deficit that just one team in MLB history (Roberts’ iconic Boston Red Sox squad in the 2004 American League Championship Series) has ever come back from.
“Can we [come back in this series]? Absolutely,” Roberts said. “But it’s just, you want to get that first [win].”
Prior to Monday, Ohtani had at least reached base safely in each of his first five playoff games.
Instead of continuing to progress with his swing, however, his 0-fer in Game 2 represented a notable step back.
Before the game, the injury-hampered 32-year-old took batting practice on the field for a third-straight day –– a drastic, and telling, change of routine for someone who normally never hits outside of the indoor batting cages.
During his BP sessions, coaches had been encouraged by the look of his swing, optimistically noting the fact he was driving the ball to the big part of the field.
“I feel good [with] where he’s at,” Roberts said Sunday. “[He is] certainly not 100 percent, but it’s good enough.”
That, however, was no longer the case in Tuesday’s demoralizing loss, when the Dodgers’ offense as a whole managed just three hits, made outs in all 15 of their at-bats against Brewers relievers, and suddenly looked like a unit in desperate need of a jolt.
Ohtani didn’t provide one. Instead, he looked even more lost than ever before.
He ended the first inning with a three-pitch strikeout, chasing an elevated fastball from Brewers rookie Logan Henderson. He stranded a runner at second to end the second, flailing at another high fastball for a softly hit grounder to third. Then came the sixth, when Ohtani was so fooled by a slider from left-handed reliever JoJo Romero that his bat flung out of his hands on his unsuccessful attempt to check his swing.
He would make one more out in the ninth, lifting a harmless fly ball to left field off top Brewers southpaw Aaron Ashby.
Once again, he did not address reporters postgame, still yet to speak publicly since before the start of the NLDS.
If the Dodgers were to drop Ohtani from the lineup for Game 3 –– when the Brewers will start left-hander Robert Gasser –– the team would have several potential ways to fill his void at DH.
The most obvious one: rookie sensation Josue De Paula.
The 21-year-old has only logged 45 total big-league plate appearances since being called up straight from double-A back in September, but has reached safely in more than half of them.
That includes a pair of impressive walks as a pinch-hitter in recent days; one that helped set up a game-winning rally in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and another in an ultimately failed ninth-inning comeback bid in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday.
Granted, swapping even a diminished version of Ohtani for someone so inexperienced would undoubtedly be a stunning decision on the surface. And if this series weren’t 2-0 for the Brewers, the calculus would be different.
But right now, De Paula might be just as much of an on-base threat, and (given he is fully healthy) is perhaps an even more likely candidate to potentially slug the ball.
And, at this increasingly dire stage, the Dodgers can ill-afford to risk another empty performance from their biggest star.
If not De Paula, the Dodgers could also use the DH spot to potentially fit October hero, and right-handed hitter, Kiké Hernández back in the lineup, after he was dropped back to the bench for Game 2 in favor of Tommy Edman. Perhaps it could also be a way to get Miguel Rojas in as another extra righty bat, especially while he nurses a back injury he suffered in the NLDS.
None of these scenarios, of course, are what the Dodgers wanted to be contemplating so soon into their World Series three-peat bid.
But suddenly, with the stakes rising higher and Ohtani’s performance trending in the opposite direction, all options might need to be on the table.
The best player in baseball, at least in his current physical condition, might need to be benched.
