This year would be different.
This year would be about winning a postseason series.
This year would be the year the best player in baseball made sure of it.
Or not.
Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers are on the verge of elimination from the National League Division Series. The San Diego Padres beat the Dodgers on Tuesday, 6-5, so the Dodgers either win two straight games or lose in their first round for the third straight season.
Ten years ago, the best player in baseball led a Southern California team into the playoffs. He would be voted his league’s most valuable player, unanimously.
He was Mike Trout, and his Angels would be eliminated in the first round. In his postseason debut, Trout had one hit in three games — a home run — in 12 at-bats. He reached base four times.
Ohtani should be voted his league’s most valuable player, unanimously.
However, in his postseason debut, Ohtani has three hits — including one home run — in 13 at-bats. He has reached base three times.
He has struck out six times, the most of anyone in the series and twice as often as anyone on the Padres. After stealing 59 bases in the regular season, Ohtani has not stolen a base in the postseason.
Performance in the summer guarantees nothing in October. Consider Aaron Judge, the likely American League MVP. Judge is one for seven this October. In his previous postseason series, the 2022 AL Championship Series, he went one for 16.
Fair or not, expectations are greater when your team rewards you with a $700-million contract.
When Dodgers owner Mark Walter recruited Ohtani, Walter told him he considered the past decade a failure. Every year in the past decade included a postseason appearance, but only one year ended in a championship.
The underlying message to Ohtani: We want to change this, and we need you to do it.
The Padres have two chances to end the Dodgers’ season this week. If they do, the Dodgers would advance no further than they did last year, when the Angels employed Ohtani.
Doomsday feeling? Not to Ohtani.
“We just have to win two games in a row,” he said. “I don’t really have the sense of there being no tomorrow. We win two games and we’re OK.”
On Tuesday, Ohtani struck out twice, flied out and had a broken-bat single. Of his four at-bats, three came with the bases empty, so he had a minimal chance to do maximum damage.
“I think that the moment is certainly not getting too big for him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think they’re making some good pitches. Obviously he had a good Game 1 and was kept somewhat at bay [since then], still threw out a knock tonight.
“So, yeah, I think that he’s still in a good place. He’ll be ready to hit a mistake. And I still feel good about having Shohei in there tomorrow to do some good things.”
Freddie Freeman shook his head. He understands what fans might expect of Ohtani, but he also understands the reality of October.
“He’s had a good series so far,” Freeman said. “I know everyone wants us to hit .400. We’re facing ones and twos and great bullpens. We’re putting some good at-bats on it.”
The Padres’ bullpen, significantly upgraded by general manager AJ Preller at the trade deadline, has a 1.69 earned-run average in this series.
Left-hander Tanner Scott, the best reliever traded at the deadline, has faced Ohtani three times in this series, once in each game. Scott has struck out Ohtani all three times.
“Of course, he’s a wonderful pitcher,” Ohtani said. “I think what’s important on this side is to have a solid approach and stand in the batter’s box in solid condition.”
In his at-bat against Scott on Tuesday, representing the tying run, Ohtani took a slider for a called third strike.
“It was good pitching, and it would have been good to at least foul the ball,” Ohtani said. “But the fastball before was hittable, so it would have been good if I had hit that.”
This is not all on Ohtani, of course. The Dodgers are batting .216 in the series. Their starting pitchers have a 6.46 earned-run average.
But Ohtani led the NL in on-base percentage this season. Of the nine regulars in the Dodgers’ lineup, however, the only one with a lower on-base percentage than Ohtani is Max Muncy.
Whether you prefer to call Ohtani the leadoff man or the $700-million man, that just won’t do.
