ATLANTA — During the final days of the regular season, after Shohei Ohtani had spent two weeks recuperating from injuries to his biceps, knee and neck, he conferred often with Los Angeles Dodgers first-base coach Chris Woodward. For the past two years, as Ohtani attempted to remain a two-way player, he had stowed his interest in stealing bases. With the possibility of pitching foreclosed for 2026, Ohtani wanted to reincorporate that stowed-away skill.

“He obviously hasn’t been getting on as much,” Woodward said. “But he definitely is in physical shape to steal. Going into the playoffs, we had talked about it a lot, him being able to run. And he feels pretty good.”

How Ohtani’s body feels might be the most pressing question for the championship aspirations of the Dodgers, who took another step toward their third consecutive World Series title on Wednesday with a 4-1 victory to eliminate the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of their National League division series. The Dodgers will now face the Brewers in the National League Championship Series, which begins on Sunday in Milwaukee.

Ohtani played a pivotal role in the early going of Game 4 of the division series: He scored his club’s first run by taking a walk in the second inning, swiping a base off starter Tyler Mahle, advancing to third on a throwing error by catcher Sean Murphy and scoring two batters later on a fielding error by shortstop Mauricio Dubón.

Ohtani Batted .154 Against Braves

The small-ball scrappiness represented progress for Ohtani, who has yet to emerge from a monthslong funk at the plate. He batted .154 against Atlanta. He supplied zero extra-base hits. He demonstrated little ability to drive the ball. Manager Dave Roberts dropped him in the batting order.

Yet by scampering around the bases on Wednesday, Ohtani offered evidence that while he might not be performing near his own elevated standard, he is still healthy enough to contribute. Which is why Dodgers officials have not considered removing him from the lineup, even as the feeble at-bats pile up, even after Atlanta’s ace, Chris Sale, made him fish for sliders in Game 3. The Dodgers believe they simply must wait to see if Ohtani can once more perform like Ohtani.

“I think Sho is the most talented player who has ever played this game,” the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, said. “He was obviously going through it over the summer. Took time off, which I think helped in a lot of ways. That being said, some bad habits were formed. But every time he steps to the plate, I have all the confidence in the world that something big’s going to happen.”

In Game 3, Ohtani batted fifth, his lowest positioning in a lineup since 2020. With the right-handed Mahle on the mound on Wednesday, Roberts elevated Ohtani to the cleanup spot, with first baseman Freddie Freeman batting second behind Mookie Betts in Ohtani’s former spot. Roberts suggested that alignment could continue as the Dodgers get deeper into October.

Ohtani Takes His Drop in the Lineup Well: Roberts

The manager brokered the lineup reconstruction with Ohtani after the team arrived in Atlanta on Monday. Ohtani took the relative demotion well, Roberts said: “He said, ‘I was going to come to you in September and say, Why don’t you hit me seventh?’”

(Like Betts and Freeman, Ohtani spent little time in the clubhouse after Game 4. He gave a brief statement to the Japanese television station NHK — “It never gets old; it’s great every time” — before ducking out of the celebration.)

Ohtani was not putting up enough production to protest the change in the batting order. He has not homered since Aug. 18. He batted .157 during the final 18 games of the season. More troubling, he slugged .214. He chased pitches outside the zone and failed to square up mistakes. During the final weekend of the season, he cut down on the number of swings he took in the on-deck circle, which led to speculation about the lingering severity of his injuries.

“It’s not what we all expect, what he expects from himself,” Roberts said. “But I do feel that the talent, the care; it’s going to happen. So I think it’s just up to all of us to keep winning baseball games.

“And then at some point, he’s going to come to life.”

Ohtani Provides a Spark in Series Clincher

Ohtani supplied a spark in Game 4. He did not swing the bat in his first plate appearance against Mahle. He maintained his discipline as Mahle threw splitters that flirted with the zone. After taking a walk, Ohtani broke for second on a 3-2 pitch from Mahle. When Murphy’s throw sailed into the outfield, Ohtani bolted to third. The gaffe by Dubón allowed Ohtani to tie the score.

His next three at-bats were less fruitful. In the fourth, he swung through a pair of elevated fastballs from Mahle for his fourth strikeout of the series. The last swing propelled Ohtani in an almost 360-degree spin. In the seventh, he tapped a first-pitch splitter to the right side of the infield. In the eighth, he flied out to right.

A survey of scouts tasked with tracking the Dodgers this October revealed something of a consensus: Ohtani was not mechanically sound. He was not receiving much to hit. And he was still not someone to be trifled with. “He’s in a funk,” one rival evaluator said. “He will get out of it.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Andy McCullough / The Athletic
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