The Los Angeles Dodgers trail the Milwaukee Brewers 0-2 in the National League Championship Series, and they are running out of time for Shohei Ohtani to wake up at the plate.
Ohtani has not hit a home run since Aug. 18, and his injury issues have been well documented. The Dodgers gave him a stint on the injured list near the end of the regular season to get some added rest, but it clearly was not enough. He's hitting .150 with a .411 OPS in the postseason and is 1-for-7 in the NLCS. He has already struck out three times in this series. With his team just two losses away from elimination, Dave Roberts is going to at least discuss the possibility of benching Ohtani, per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya.
"Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn’t been good,” Roberts said after Game 2, per The Athletic. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him (Tuesday), kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.
“I’ll have (that conversation) with him (Tuesday).”
It would be a huge risk to bench Ohtani, simply because he can still change a game with one swing. However, he is clearly not right, battling injuries and probably fighting a mental slump as well. The Dodgers have Josue De Paula on the roster ready to serve as the designated hitter, and he was phenomenal in the regular season while Ohtani was out.
De Paula drew a walk in the ninth inning of Game 1 as a pinch hitter. He has great discipline at the plate and could be a great bat to have against a Brewers pitching staff that has been dominant so far.
The Dodgers are not dead yet, but if they lose Game 3 or 4, they will be in a very tough spot. There has only ever been one 3-0 comeback in MLB history, and 14 3-1 comebacks. It would not be impossible, but the Dodgers would be in a very tough spot.