Shohei Ohtani clutched a bat in his left hand and hopped on the balls of his ft, his bangs bouncing as he took in the scene round him. He had stood inside the residence dugout at Dodger Stadium eight months earlier, days earlier than inking a $700 million contract, gazing out at empty seats and countless potentialities. Now the ballpark was full, with 53,028 followers questioning what Ohtani may do in his postseason debut.
The smoke from pregame fireworks nonetheless hung over the outfield as the Dodgers assembled round the diamond. Ohtani doesn't play the subject, however his mere presence imbues those that do with a way of safety. His teammate Kiké Hernández draped an arm over Ohtani’s shoulder and spoke in his ear so Ohtani might hear him by the din.
“Lead us,” Hernández informed Ohtani, “the same way you led Japan in the WBC.”
Ohtani grinned and nodded. Capturing a championship for Samurai Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic had as soon as represented the grandest achievement of his skilled life. He joined the Dodgers as a result of the franchise supplied a path towards a better summit, the postseason of Major League Baseball, with the World Series as the final prize. If these early days of October are any indication, the group seems simply as depending on him.
Shohei Ohtani has a knack for rising to the event. ‘It’s like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan s—” his supervisor says. (Harry How / Getty Images)
Can one participant carry a group to a championship? The Dodgers could also be compelled to discover out. The group could solely go so far as he can take them. Ohtani’s three-run lightning strike in a Game 1 National League Division Series victory over the San Diego Padres erased an early deficit and wakened his group. He went hitless a day later in a drubbing by San Diego. In a listless efficiency by the Dodgers lineup, Ohtani took just one at-bat in Game 2 with runners on base.
As this sequence shifts to Petco Park for Game 3 on Tuesday, Ohtani will face much more stress. The pitching matchups favor San Diego. Neither of the other two MVPs in the Dodgers lineup are working at a excessive stage. Freddie Freeman left halfway by Game 2 due to discomfort in his sprained ankle. Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts was uncertain if Freeman might play in Game 3. Mookie Betts has not recorded a postseason hit since Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS and Roberts overtly questioned on Monday if the residue of previous postseason failure lingered on the $365 million outfielder.
“I can see, I don’t know if it’s angst or the pressure of past performances starting to bleed in,” Roberts mentioned. “That’s something I don’t want to happen.”
Roberts mentioned the group had not mentioned altering the lineup to have Betts lead off and Ohtani bat second. Like Ohtani, Betts prefers being atop the lineup. Ohtani changed Betts as the leadoff hitter when Betts suffered a damaged hand in June. The Dodgers caught with the association as Ohtani’s base working prowess flourished.
The first two video games of this sequence demonstrated each Ohtani’s aptitude for the dramatic and his group’s reliance upon him taking the stage. For the Dodgers, he has turn into a determine worthy of divine appreciation. When Ohtani got here to the plate in the fourth inning of Game 1, Dodger Stadium organist Dieter Ruehle pounded the keys of “Personal Jesus.” Given how Ohtani carried out in the ultimate weeks of the season, the Dodgers operated as if they didn't require assist from above. All they wanted was Ohtani.
“It’s like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan s—,” Roberts mentioned. “You go there to watch him. And then, in the biggest moment …”
The examples overflowed in the second half, like when Ohtani launched a walk-off grand slam to attain the membership of gamers with 40 homers and 40 stolen bases, or homered on his bobblehead night time just a few days later, or provided three homers and stole two bases en route to baseball’s first ever 50-50 season a pair weeks after that.
In September, Roberts thought-about assembly with Ohtani to talk about his postseason strategy. At instances throughout the season, Dodgers officers seen, Ohtani chased pitches outdoors the zone whereas hitting with runners in scoring place. Roberts fearful opponents might exploit Ohtani’s eagerness. Then, as the Dodgers confronted a late cost for the division lead from San Diego in the season’s ultimate two weeks, Roberts watched Ohtani bat .547 with seven homers and 22 RBIs. No dialog was essential, the supervisor determined. He anticipated Ohtani to flourish on this stage, one the participant had dreamed of reaching since his boyhood.
Ohtani was not alone in these goals. Before the sequence, a reporter from The Athletic requested Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller if he felt dangerous about upsetting the numerous baseball followers who had desired to watch Ohtani in the postseason after so many misplaced seasons with the Angels. (Jurickson Profar just isn't the solely particular person right here able to trolling.) Preller shrugged and smiled. “Uhhh, no,” he mentioned. Two days later, after Ohtani’s heroics in Game 1, Preller noticed the reporter. “Hey, to answer your question: No, I’m not excited about facing Ohtani in the playoffs,” he mentioned.
As San Diego officers plotted how to defuse Ohtani, they famous the significance of quieting the hitters at the backside of the Dodgers lineup. If Ohtani took his at-bats with the bases empty, Padres pitchers might problem him without concern of exaggerated penalties. That thought suited Padres supervisor Mike Shildt. “I like the competition,” Shildt mentioned final week.
In the second inning of Game 1, after a leadoff stroll by catcher Will Smith and a single by second baseman Gavin Lux created a gap, Ohtani stepped to the plate with two outs in opposition to Padres starter Dylan Cease. “If we’re on base, it just creates more stress than there is already when facing Shohei,” Lux mentioned. “With no one on base, it’s already stressful.” Cease flung a 96.9 mph fastball at the high of the zone. Ohtani despatched it screaming over the right-field fence. He did some hollering of his personal as he rounded the bases.
The dinger generated all the consideration after the recreation, for apparent causes. A day later, although, Roberts fixated on the at-bat beforehand when No. 9 hitter Miguel Rojas popped up when making an attempt to punch an opposite-field hit. “If he would have tried to chase slug or do a little more damage,” Roberts mentioned, “that ball would have been a ground-ball double play.” Instead, Rojas stored the inning alive for Ohtani.
In Game 2, Padres starter Yu Darvish prevented the second from discovering Ohtani, who went hitless in 4 at-bats. Michael King deliberate to ask Darvish for some tips on fooling Ohtani. He supposed to assault Ohtani slightly than pitch round him.
“Ohtani is probably the best in the game,” King mentioned on Monday. “But it’s that competing factor. And they still have Mookie and Freddie and Teoscar (Hernández) behind them.”
Unless, in fact, they don’t. Before this postseason, the Dodgers understood that Ohtani might need to carry them. This week could decide simply how far that may be.
(Top photograph of Shohei Ohtani: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
