Shohei Ohtani’s swing is among the most dangerous in baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers will have only five games to get it ready for the playoffs, barring any setbacks.
There have been many of them for Ohtani, who’s missed the past 12 games while dealing with issues to his left knee and right biceps. He’s expected to be back in the Dodgers' lineup in the team's upcoming series against the San Diego Padres. There will be only five games left in the regular season.
Because of Ohtani’s lingering knee issues, the Dodgers have shut him down from pitching. But they’d still like him to bat – and a swing that has generated a team-leading 30 home runs this season and 263 over the last six seasons.
In his last 24 games before going on the injured reserve
list, however, Ohtani hit .198 (19-for-96) with 34 strikeouts.
It raises a premature, although not outrageous, question involving the four-time MVP: At some point, in some cases, might the Dodgers be better off with Ohtani out of the lineup?
Precious at-bats
The Dodgers haven’t had enough pitchers to throw him live batting practice, and so he’s been hitting off the Trajekt, a machine that simulates real pitchers. And so those final five regular-season games – two against the Padres and three against the San Francisco Giants – because even more critical.
"I do think that when he's activated, it's going to be the best physical place he's been in in quite some time,’’ said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.
So we’ll see if feeling good translates into swinging well for Ohtani.
The Dodgers have managed to win despite missing their MVP designated hitter. Ohtani’s missed 15 of the Dodgers’ last 16 games, and the team has gone 13-3 without him. In six of those games, the Dodgers won by two or fewer runs.
The Dodgers, who clinched a playoff berth by winning the NL West crown, have a four-game lead on the Atlanta Braves to clinch a first-round bye. Los Angeles is two games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the No. 1 season and homefield advantage through the NL playoffs.
At-bats figure to become even more precious as the playoffs begin.
Ohtani might have to earn them.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Window tightens for Shohei Ohtani to get ready for playoffs
