One day after being dropped to sixth in the batting order, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is back in the leadoff spot for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night.
The Milwaukee Brewers won the first three games of the series and can clinch a World Series berth on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
With elimination facing the Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts put Ohtani back atop the order for the first time since the final game of the regular season on Sept. 27. In Wednesday’s 6-2 loss, Ohtani went 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch.
“Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at,” Roberts said prior to Game 4. “I just really — I liked the at-bats yesterday, and I felt that trying to shake it up a little bit. Obviously, we haven’t performed the way that we’re capable of, so to kind of shake it up a little bit, but something that’s of somewhat normalcy that our guys are used to.”
Ohtani, 32, has been bothered by right biceps and left knee injuries for multiple months and his productivity has slipped.
He has batted just .182 (4-for-22) with no homers and no RBIs in seven postseason games. Ohtani hasn’t homered since Aug. 18 against the Colorado Rockies and owns just one RBI since that homer.
When he batted sixth against the Brewers on Wednesday, it marked the first time he had batted so low in a starting lineup since Sept. 19, 2020 – when the Los Angeles Angels slotted him sixth as the designated hitter against the Texas Rangers.
Roberts said he didn’t tell Ohtani in advance about his return to the leadoff spot. He likes the idea of it possibly jump-starting Ohtani and his struggling troops.
“I feel good about him taking five at-bats and giving us our best chance to win and produce runs today,” Roberts said of Ohtani.
Ohtani is a four-time MVP — twice with the Angels and twice with the Dodgers — during nine big league campaigns. He hit 11 postseason homers, including eight last year, as the Dodgers won back-to-back titles.