The Los Angeles Dodgers are down 0-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, and Shohei Ohtani's struggles are at the forefront.
Ohtani's struggles are not too surprising, considering he's dealing with multiple injuries and struggled at the plate coming into the postseason. The Dodgers were considering benching him for Game 3 of the NLCS, but Dave Roberts told reporters on Tuesday that Ohtani is "adamant" he's healthy and close to figuring something out, per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya.
“He was very convicted that he was onto something mechanically,” Roberts told reporters.
Ohtani thinks he's getting close to breaking out of his extended slump, but he is not making excuses for his poor numbers. He is not blaming his injuries, and thinks he is off mechanically.
“Over the course of this long season, there's only really a short period of time when my mechanics are completely in sync,’’ Ohtani said through his interpreter, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. “So it's just really kind of just going back and forth, finding the right parts of the swing and managing just the different parts of the swing. It's a constant, ongoing process that's headed in the right direction.’’
“The results, (I) take full responsibility,’’ Ohtani said. “That's all I can really say, why the results haven't been where I wanted it to be. … The symptoms shouldn't be the reason why I can't hit, and even if the injuries happen by accident, I take full responsibility. I take that as an opportunity for me to just take full responsibility for it.’’
The Dodgers don't quite have their backs to the wall yet, but they are getting close. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow being their No. 3 and No. 4 starters puts them in a much better position than other teams if they were down 0-2 in a seven-game series. However, if the Brewers win one of the next two games, the Dodgers will be in a rough spot.
Right now, the Brewers still need to find a way to win two games. If that number drops to one before the Dodgers tie things up, the odds of a comeback become near zero. Luckily for the Dodgers, the next two starting pitchers for the Brewers are nowhere near as good as Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson. The Dodgers have to like their odds of beating Robert Gasser and Dustin May with Snell and Glasnow lined up.
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