LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani at the plate had just one hit in the NLDS, driving in the fourth and final Dodgers run in a one-run win in Game 2. But he also struck out out nine times in his 20 plate appearances
in the series.
Sixteen of those plate appearances came against Phillies left-handers, including 0-for-12 with six strikeouts specifically against Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, and Ranger Súarez.
“A lot of it was driven by the left-handed pitching, and even with that, he wasn’t as bad during the regular season as he was on the postseason versus those guys,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday. “Whatever opponent we face, they’re going to try to put as many lefties on Shohei. But we’re hoping he can kind of do a little self-reflecting on that series, on how aggressive he was outside the strike zone, passive in the zone. Just the at-bat quality needs to get better.”
It’s hard to make much out of a four-game slump, as Ohtani also homered twice and drove in four runs in two wild card games against the Reds less than two weeks ago.
Ohtani during the regular season hit .279/.344/.554 with 15 home runs in 244 plate appearances against southpaws. Among the 61 left-handed batters in the majors to bat at least 100 times against left-handed pitching, Ohtani’s 146 wRC+ ranked third in the majors, behind only old friend Cody Bellinger and Kyle Schwarber.
The Brewers in their NLDS against the Cubs had four left-handed pitchers on the roster — starter Jose Quintana plus relievers Aaron Ashby, Jared Koenig, and Robert Gasser. Ohtani was 1-for-5 with a two-run home run and a bases-loaded walk against Quintana, all this season. Koenig struck him out three times in four hitless at-bats, spread out between 2022, 2024, and 2025. Ohtani against Ashby had two singles in two at-bats plus a walk this season.
More on Ohtani’s slump at the plate from both Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.
