The Los Angeles Dodgers will continue to roll with their current batting order for Game 3 of their National League Championship Series against the New York Mets on Wednesday, despite the potential for their best player to do more damage in a different slot.
Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani’s down play in the postseason could be fixed by a coaching change
Dodgers superstar designated hitter Shohei Ohtani’s play has regressed in the 2024 MLB playoffs so far despite delivering timely hits. Compared to his historic tear through the regular season, more could be had from him. The same can be said for the rest of Los Angeles’ starters. Ohtani, who currently leads off for L.A., is slashing .222/.344/.333 with a .677 OPS through seven postseason games. He also has one home run, as well as five runs and RBIs apiece, and has yet to steal a base, even getting called out while attempting to steal second in the Dodgers’ NLCS Game 1 win over the Mets.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts unlikely to move Ohtani down batting order
A remedy to his down productivity has been introduced to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, but Los Angeles’ leader has shot it down. Roberts was asked if he would entertain moving Ohtani down their batting order to drive in more runs behind fellow superstar former MVPs in Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, as well as All-Star Teoscar Hernandez, who hit second through fourth behind the Japanese sensation. Plainly, Roberts let it be known that such a shift is unlikely, saying this per Maren Angus Coombs of Los Angeles Dodgers on SI:
“Not really,” Roberts said. “I think that, as far as on the offensive side, I think we’ve been pretty good offensively. I think the guys at the bottom have been doing a nice job of getting on base.”
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Ohtani has been unbelievable with runners in scoring position of late
Ohtani moved to the leadoff spot permanently from his original place at second in the order on June 17 after superstar teammate Mookie Betts went down with a fractured hand the day prior, which kept him out for roughly two months. The four-time All-Star has been effective out of both slots, but with the way Betts is able to get on base and keep pitchers on their toes when leaking out between first and second, Ohtani could be used effectively behind him and give the Mets’ rotation headaches having to deal with two elite base-stealers in scoring position.
As Roberts attested to, the Dodgers have been supplemented with quality slugging at the end of their order, particularly from Gavin Lux, who has done the job expected of them from an efficiency standpoint. Nevertheless, per MLB Network, Ohtani — who owns an unreal .842 batting average, a sweltering 1.895 slug percentage, and 24 RBIs in his last 21 plate appearances with runners in scoring position — has a recent track record that shows that he can do real damage early in games the rest of the way if he comes up to bat after Freeman, Betts, and other Dodgers hitters get on base.
Despite this, it seems like the 30-year-old NL MVP favorite will have to do much of his damage in RISP situations in the later innings of games. Roberts is confident in his troops and correspondingly, Ohtani is too talented of a superstar to play at his current level for the rest of the playoffs. That being said, should L.A. drop Game 3 to the Mets and fall into a 1-2 series hole, that could prod Dodgers coaches to make alterations to keep themselves alive in their World Series chase.
