Shohei Ohtani insists that he can play, that his symptoms “have subdued a lot,” and that his “No. 1 priority is for the team to win.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, after looking completely out of sorts to start the postseason, it\u2019s on him to show it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dodgers\u2019 season rests, at least in part, on his candidness.<\/p>\n
“I did speak to Sho, had a great conversation,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He\u2019s adamant he feels good enough to be in there. He\u2019s close to finding something with his swing. I feel great about it.”<\/p>\n
The Brewers present an exhausting challenge. They wear opponents out with long at-bats, refusing to chase out of the zone or relent when they get down. They overpower hitters with a bevy of hard-throwing, whiff-inducing pitchers, who attack from different arm angles. They run the bases well and defend soundly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was the formula for winning a franchise-record 103 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, apart from some uncharacteristic errors this October, they have carried most of those same traits onto the sport\u2019s biggest stage. It should come as little surprise that the best team in baseball looks the part.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Photo by Aaron Gash\/MLB Photos via Getty Images) <\/p>\n
What has been startling, though, is the way they\u2019ve also neutralized everything that made the reigning back-to-back champions seem like such an inevitable force.<\/p>\n
For all of the Dodgers\u2019 flaws, they could rely on one of the most talented collections of starting pitchers ever assembled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They had won each of their last eight games started by deadline addition Tarik Skubal \u2026 until the back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner fell victim to the Brewers\u2019 unyielding attack in Game 1 of the NLCS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They had won each of their last five postseason games in which Yoshinobu Yamamoto made an appearance \u2026 until the Brewers chased the reigning World Series MVP in the third inning of Game 2, marking the shortest playoff outing of Yamamoto\u2019s already illustrious career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They could usually count on the power of an offense that homered eight times in their first four games of the postseason \u2026 until they went homerless in each of their first two games of the series in Milwaukee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And unless their superhero can magically rediscover his powers over the next few days, the Dodgers\u2019 three-peat dreams could disappear right alongside Ohtani\u2019s swing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I do think that Shohei has taken this as a personal challenge,” Roberts said. “But at the end of the day, it\u2019s not a one-man show. It\u2019s got to be all of us, myself included, who have got to be better.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Photo by John Fisher\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
Still, the team\u2019s offensive struggles start with the four-time MVP, who hasn\u2019t homered since Aug. 18 and is hitting .150 with no extra-base hits this postseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They\u2019re being careful, the same way like if he was doing an MVP season,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez told me. “It\u2019s not like he\u2019s been getting pitches to hit. It\u2019s going to be even tougher, especially when you\u2019re in a slump like that, to come through because they\u2019re not going to let you get out.”<\/p>\n
Dating back to Aug. 19, and including the start to the postseason, Ohtani has knocked in one run over his last 24 games.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Photo by Aaron Gash\/MLB Photos via Getty Images) <\/p>\n