Even though he homered in the seventh inning, Shohei Ohtani came away from Game 1 of the World Series with the most negative cWPA among Dodgers hitters. That stat, which measures how much the outcome of each at-bat alters a team’s chances of winning the World Series, put Ohtani at -3.67% on Friday, since he struck out twice and grounded out with the bases loaded while the game was still close.
That he homered with the Dodgers down 11-2 simply didn’t count for much.
Now in Game 2, Ohtani has flied out and popped out in his first two at-bats. He has six homers in 47 at-bats overall in the postseason, but just four other hits and a total of 19 strikeouts. It’s unfair to say that he’s struggling when he’s slugging over .600, but the Dodgers need him to start some rallies and keep them going when he has the chance.