The Los Angeles Dodgers are down 1-0 in the National League Championship Series, and their offense has been scuffling as of late.
The team has been too reliant on the long ball and scored just one run in Game 1 of the NLCS. To be fair, most teams struggle to score runs in bunches in the postseason, but the Dodgers are supposed to be an exception. Their lineup has three MVPs, and every player in the starting lineup has at least one All-Star selection. Shohei Ohtani's struggles amid his injuries have been well documented, but he is not the only struggling hitter on the team.
Will Smith is 1-for-19 in the postseason, and he has been a huge part of the Dodgers' last two championship runs. He missed a chunk of this season with injury, but the Dodgers need him to swing a hot bat with some of their other stars struggling.
"At the end of the day, it’s five games at the plate,” Smith said before Game 2, per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya. “No panic from me.”
Despite Kyle Tucker, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages having solid postseasons so far, the Dodgers' offense has not been able to score runs at the clip everyone expects them to. Against the Atlanta Braves, they struggled to score runs despite the Braves throwing two bullpen games.
In Game 1 against the Brewers, they faced Jacob Misiorowski and a rested bullpen. It's hard to blame them for scoring only one run in that game. Game 2 will not be much easier, but the Dodgers know the offense has to be better. Smith is not panicking at the plate, but eventually results will have to show that.
Going down 2-0 against a great team like the Brewers could be a problem, and Smith swinging a hot bat could help them avoid that.