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<\/p>\nThere is no overstating Shohei Ohtani\u2019s importance to the Los Angeles Dodgers. So it was notable that they reached the National League Championship Series despite getting little offensively from the soon-to-be four-time NL MVP.<\/p>\n
Ohtani was the focus of every plan of attack for the Philadelphia Phillies, who deployed one left-handed pitcher after another in the National League Division Series. Ohtani had one hit and struck out nine times in 18 at-bats, with 16 of his 20 plate appearances coming against lefties.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers, who won the series 3 games to 1, probably won\u2019t face as many lefties in the NLCS, but manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani must adjust.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance,\u201d Roberts said Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Phillies jammed Ohtani on the inner part of the plate with fastballs, making it impossible for him to extend his arms. They found a potential hole in his inability to hit left-handed changeups, and they threw 10 at him in the series. That set up a diet of breaking balls on the outer half of the plate.<\/p>\n
This was not the Ohtani the Dodgers have been used to seeing.<\/p>\n
Ohtani, in speaking with Japanese media during the Dodgers\u2019 celebration Thursday night (he hasn\u2019t spoken with English media since after Game 1), credited many of his struggles to the number of lefties he faced and how they executed their plan. Three of the four Phillies starters \u2014 and all four of their primary pitchers in the series \u2014 were southpaws.<\/p>\n
That quirk kept Max Muncy out of the starting lineup for all but one game and largely kept Freddie Freeman in check (3-for-15 in the NLDS).<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think that he\u2019s in between a little bit,\u201d Roberts said of Ohtani after Game 3. \u201cBut the swing decisions are just not where they need to be right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Shohei Ohtani looks on from the dugout during Game 4. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Roberts said Ohtani\u2019s swing decision issues began with the matchups. They evolved into bad habits, allowing the Phillies to control their game plan against him rather than Ohtani forcing them to come into his zone.<\/p>\n
The consequences showed up in Ohtani\u2019s first at-bat. Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, one of baseball\u2019s best left-handers, buried a first-pitch sinker that bore in on Ohtani\u2019s hands. Ohtani swung through it.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez followed with a changeup. During the regular season, Ohtani saw 60 left-handed changeups, eight from S\u00e1nchez and 11 overall from the Phillies. It\u2019s not a pitch he has handled well, swinging and missing 17 times in 34 swings during the regular season. This changeup dove below the zone, coming off the same plane as S\u00e1nchez\u2019s sinker on the inner half of the plate. Ohtani swung through it.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez followed with another changeup, doubling up and going even further inside. Ohtani swung through it and struck out swinging at three consecutive pitches. Roberts said it \u201ckinda set the tone for that series.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies also exploited a habit that emerged with Ohtani\u2019s return to the mound as a two-way player. For months, Roberts has noted Ohtani\u2019s propensity to run shorter at-bats in games when he\u2019s pitching. He hit .222 (12-for-54) with four home runs on his 14 pitching days during the regular season.<\/p>\n
In Game 1, Ohtani pitched six innings and was hitless in four at-bats.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s probably trying to conserve energy, not trying to get into at-bats,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been good when he\u2019s pitched. I do think that\u2019s part of it. We\u2019ve got to think through this and come up with a better game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hope is Ohtani can reset in the NLCS, as he did last year. In the 2024 NLDS against the San Diego Padres, he went 4-for-20, including his memorable Game 1 blast off Dylan Cease. The other Padres pitchers gave Ohtani fits, including Tanner Scott (0-for-4, four strikeouts) and Yu Darvish (0-for-6, three strikeouts).<\/p>\n
But in the NLCS against the New York Mets, Ohtani was 8-for-22 (.364) with two home runs and a 1.185 OPS. The Dodgers are hoping for a similar eruption in this year\u2019s NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers. Game 1 is Monday in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, whatever opponent we face, they\u2019re gonna try to put as many lefties on Shohei,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut hoping that he can do a little self-reflecting on that series. And how aggressive he was outside of the strike zone, passive in the zone \u2014 just the at-bat quality needs to get better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re counting on a recalibration, getting back into the strike zone and understanding when he faces left-handed pitching what they\u2019re gonna try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no overstating Shohei Ohtani\u2019s importance to the Los Angeles Dodgers. So it was notable that they…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":296386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2502,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-296385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115359284620210266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}