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The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing a 0-2 deficit in the NLCS and could do the unthinkable.
According to Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic, manager Dave Roberts is considering benching Shohei Ohtani, who is in the midst of an egregious slump.
“Yeah I mean obviously it hasn’t been good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.”
Rosenthal and Woo went on to report that Roberts said he would go ahead and have a conversation “with him tomorrow.”
This time last year, Ohtani had one of the greatest games in baseball history, when he struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Brewers.
But given his performance this postseason, it might be the right thing to do.
Through seven games in the playoffs, Ohtani is 3-for-20 and hasn’t had an extra-base hit.
In Monday night’s 7-4 loss, Ohtani lowered his postseason batting average to .150 after going 0-for-4 at the plate and striking out twice.
On top of that, the four-time MVP was recently dropped to fifth in the lineup and attempted to lay down a bunt to lead off the sixth inning against Brewers left-handed pitcher Jojo Romero.
He’s spent a majority of the season dealing playing hurt, including a bicep and knee injury that he suffered at the midway point of the year.
Prior to his postseason slump, his struggles date back to the regular season, as he has not hit a home run since August 18.
Between August 19. and September 7. Ohtani had not driven in a single run for the Dodgers and landed on the team’s injured list a few days later.
He was reactivated two weeks later and hit an RBI in his second game back, but still didn’t look like himself.
Rosenthal and Woo wrote that if the Dodgers elect to sit Ohtani, rookie Josue De Paula would be the top candidate to take his spot as the designated hitter in the starting lineup.
The two reported that the Dodgers have been impressed with De Paula’s “elite plate discipline.”
