Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-13 with four strikeouts across the NLDS, and the Los Angeles Dodgers closed out the Braves without him, winning the series 3-1 in four games.
That’s the real headline today, buried under the clip everyone’s going to share instead. A roster that can watch its $700 million best hitter go ice-cold for an entire series and still eliminate a good team in October has a level of depth that should worry whoever’s waiting in the NLCS.
The Dodgers beat Atlanta 4-1 in Game 4 on Oct. 7 at Truist Park, closing out a third straight trip to the NLCS. The signature sound bite from that game belonged to Braves starter Tyler Mahle, not Ohtani.
Mahle was caught on FS1’s hot mic losing it after shortstop Mauricio Dubón dropped a routine pop-up behind him. He still went 6.1 innings with four strikeouts and just one earned run, and he still took the loss.
The run that tied the game barely involved a bat.
In the second inning, Ohtani walked, stole second, and moved to third on a throwing error. He scored when Dubón dropped that pop-up off a Max Muncy at-bat, tying the game at 1 after Atlanta had scored in the first.
The sequence looked exactly as chaotic as it reads:
https://twitter.com/680TheFan/status/2107962680468500618
Andy Pages delivered the actual knockout blow five innings later, a bases-loaded single in the seventh. Edgardo Henriquez picked up the win, Edwin Diaz closed it, and neither moment is getting clipped today.
My brother’s been texting me Suns highlights all week like the NLDS doesn’t exist. That tracks for a league this quiet in early October, but it also means almost nobody’s talking about the part of this series that should actually worry people.
Ohtani hit .154 in the NLDS, two hits in thirteen at-bats, two walks, four strikeouts, zero RBI across all four games. Only Will Smith finished with a worse average among Dodgers regulars.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman isn’t worried, and he said as much in the clubhouse after Game 4: “At some point, it’s going to click for him. And the other team’s going to be in big trouble when that happens.”
That’s the sentence you say about a bat that hasn’t started hitting yet, not one that’s already rolling. Friedman isn’t bracing for Ohtani’s slump to continue. He’s bracing for it to end.
The Dodgers’ offense had already been flagged as a problem before this series even started, and Ohtani striking out four straight times earlier this month made it clear this slump isn’t new. A $700 million bat going cold again on the biggest stage and a team still finding ways to win is either a dream problem or a nightmare, depending which dugout you’re standing in.
Whoever’s waiting in the NLCS should be less worried about anything Ohtani did against the Braves and more worried about the version of him that hasn’t shown up yet.
Friedman just promised the NLCS “big trouble,” and he’s probably right.
