Shohei Ohtani was staring at his phone when I approached him outside his locker in the aftermath of the Dodgers’ 7-3 loss to the New York Mets on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
He looked up.
We were alone, while the other reporters were in other parts of the clubhouse interviewing other players.
I thought readers of this publication would like to hear from their star after he was eliminated in a defeat that brought the best-of-seven series to one game apiece, but Oh-fer-tani was hesitant to say anything.
“I don’t know what the other media will think,” he said in Japanese.
“It’s fine,” I assured him.
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Ohtani called one of the team’s PR managers, as if to ask permission for an interview. The official told me Ohtani would not talk.
I told Ohtani that I would like to hear that directly from him. Like any other player, Ohtani has the right to refuse a post-match interview. Just because he doesn’t want to appear uncooperative, he shouldn’t pass that burden on to a team official who in reality has no control over what he says or does.
Ohtani shrugged. He flashed that boyish smile that has made him the most beloved athlete in this market. He said nothing and walked away.
Well, I guess that’s better than him doing a Lincoln Riley and defensively saying, “There’s no one who takes more responsibility than me,” but Ohtani sure made him seem coddled, didn’t he?
I’ve generally refrained from talking to Ohtani outside of team-organized scrums, but Ohtani’s three at-bats against Mets starter Sean Manaea were perhaps his three worst of the entire postseason:
Swinging a strikeout in the first inning.
Another strikeout in the third, this time looking and on three pitches.
A weak pop-up to first base in the fifth.
It’s one thing to look disheveled against San Diego Padres starter Yu Davish, as Ohtani did in the NL Division Series. It’s another to be overwhelmed by Padres left-hander Tanner Scott, against whom Ohtani was 0 for four in the NLDS. It’s another thing entirely to look completely helpless against Manaea, who doesn’t have Darvish’s pitch variety or Scott’s mid-90s fastball.
Ohtani never seemed to recover mentally from taking a pair of Manaea’s sweepers in his first at-bat. He went looking for the pitch in his second at-bat and that’s probably why he struck out on three pitches, all hittable fastballs. On his third at bat, Ohtani was desperate for contact and threw a second-pitch sweeper to first base.
“I thought he didn’t look comfortable against Manaea,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Manaea left the game in the sixth inning, but the Mets continued to neutralize Ohtani by not pitching to him. Ohtani walked in the seventh inning and again in the ninth.
With his three hitless at bats, Ohtani is now 0 for 19 in the bases-empty playoffs. He is six to eight with a bishop or more on. Overall, he is hitting .222 in the postseason.
In Ohtani’s defense, pitchers are under less pressure to throw when there is no traffic on the bases. The opponent’s defense also takes a different position.
However, the numbers are the numbers, and Ohtani’s are unacceptable for a leadoff hitter. The role requires him to reach the basics.
Still, Roberts said he wasn’t thinking about moving Ohtani down.
“I just don’t want to be too reactive,” Roberts said. “I just don’t see the benefit. We have to make sure our guys can swing the bat well. And honestly, I want Shohei to get five at-bats per game. I think he’s our best hitter.”
Ohtani needs to start playing like that again. He doesn’t necessarily have to hit for the Dodgers to win, but they are certainly more likely to win if he hits. The Dodgers have won four games this postseason, and Ohtani has driven in runs in three of them.
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The series moves from Dodger Stadium to Citi Field in New York for the next three games. The Mets will start a right-hander in Game 3 in Luis Severino, and that alone could make Ohtani as dangerous again as he was in Game 1 when he was two for four with two runs scored and another batted in.
But if the Dodgers want to win the World Series, Ohtani might have to hit a so-called Ohtani Stopper at some point. He may need to reach base not to drive in runs, but to be in position to score them when Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman or Teoscar Hernández are at the plate.
Because as Ohtani goes, so go the Dodgers.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
