LOS ANGELES — Who’s that on the back of your milk carton the morning after the Dodgers lost Game 3 of the National League Division Series to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3, on Wednesday night?
MISSING
Ōtani Shōhei
DATE MISSING: 10/1/25
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown
HEIGHT: 6-foot-3
BATS: Left
THROWS: Right
Of course you recognize that guy; Shohei Ohtani is only the greatest baseball player alive.
Check that swing – the greatest baseball player ever.
He’s Him, yeah? And so, no, good isn’t going to be good enough. Great wouldn’t even be good enough.
For $700 million, the Dodgers are right to expect marvelous Marvel-esque feats, superhuman stunts, for him to deliver two-way torment as only he can, the game’s only pitching-hitter/hitting-pitcher unicorn.
They’re right to be banking on Ohtani stunting through the playoffs and not swinging like he’s saddled with the weight of the world, one at-bat after another marred by questionable decision-making unbecoming a leading man.
“I just think that his plate, his decision-making hasn’t been good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in honest terms I appreciate. “You can see, it’s balls in/off, and he’s really not giving himself a chance to hit a mistake. I just think that he’s in between a little bit, but the swing decisions are just not where they need to be right now.
“That’s kind of what I see, decision-making.”
The Dodgers are right to expect the exceptionally popular Japanese phenomenon to clear his head and lock in. To be better when it matters than 2 for 18 with seven strikeouts since Game 1 of the Dodgers’ Wild Card series against the Cincinnati Reds, when Ohtani blasted two home runs in an 8-4 victory that feels ever more like a distant memory.
Certainly, Ohtani was valuable as the Game 1 pitcher in the NLDS, when he got the win in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory. On the mound, he gave up three runs in six innings in his postseason pitching debut – the first runs he allowed since August – but he also looked like a pitcher at the plate, striking out four times.
Said Roberts afterward: “On days that Shohei pitches, a large amount of the focus is on the pitching. But last night in particular … trying to weather that three-run inning and stay in there on the pitching side I’m sure had some kind of bleed-in effect on the bat.”
While we’re thinking about it, the Dodgers were right to expect more last season too than 14 for 61 (.230) with three home runs and 22 strikeouts in Ohtani’s first MLB postseason, even though the Dodgers won the World Series despite the best player on a team loaded with stars not quite reaching his galaxian expectations (in fairness, he injured his shoulder in Game 2 of the World Series and played hurt the rest of the way).
And they’ll need him now, if they’re going to repeat.
They’ll need him first just to get past the Phillies, whose first three hitters in their lineup came into Wednesday’s game at Dodger Stadium just 2 for 21 with 11 strikeouts – and promptly got their groove back, going a combined 7 for 13 with five RBIs in Game 3 on Wednesday.
I doubt Roberts and his bigger picture-thinking Dodgers expected Clayton Kershaw to mow down the Phillies he faced in the seventh and eighth innings, after entering with the Dodgers trailing 3-1.
Because Kershaw wasn’t cast to play the hero in this series; he was only just added to the postseason roster this series after being left off against the Reds. The Dodgers great was cast to play the role of Brent Honeywell, the reliever who ate innings last postseason when his club didn’t want to use high-leverage arms in games they didn’t absolutely need to win.
Ohtani, on the other hand, is absolutely needed for his superheroics.
That’s what the “M-V-P!” chants are for.
This is what the regular season – when Ohtani hit his franchise record-breaking 55th home run and registered 102 RBIs, 146 runs and 20 stolen bases in addition to pitching 47 innings and recording a 2.87 ERA with 62 strikeouts – was supposed to be a warmup for.
It’s what the really big bucks are for, deferred though they might be.
It’s not to show up to Thursday’s pivotal Game 4 in the NLDS having hit safely only four times out of 23 while striking out 10. Or to remind everyone that close is only close when he hit it to the wall but not over in the seventh inning. Not to be the guy to be merciful and fly out benignly to right field for the game’s final out.
The Dodgers need Ohtani to eat his proverbial Wheaties on Thursday morning.
And then go find that guy on the back of the milk carton and turn him loose.
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