The Braves just tied the NLDS at one game apiece because Shohei Ohtani, the gravitational center of this Dodgers roster, keeps showing up as a diminished version of himself. Atlanta took Game 2 by a 3-2 score on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, and the box score will tell you about Michael Harris II nearly cycling and Max Muncy’s ninth-inning solo shot. I keep landing on the same problem: the most expensive two-way force in baseball has two singles through two games and zero of the damage that used to rearrange entire series.
Ohtani went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Across the first two games he sits 2-for-8, both singles, no walks, no extra-base hits. Ray Kerr, the feel-good lefty opener, retired him twice. A healthy Ohtani does not punch out on an inside fastball against Kerr in the first and then pop up with two aboard in the third. A healthy Ohtani does not have to slap one the other way just to find grass in the fifth. The Braves have thrown him nine fastballs in the middle third of the zone this series. He has punished exactly one of them, that first-inning Game 1 single. Everything after that has looked like a man fighting his own swing.
Dave Roberts keeps the public tone steady. “I haven’t heard anything other than he feels fine,” the manager said. Then the quieter admission arrived: “I don’t know if he’s trying to do too much because he doesn’t feel perfect.” That is the entire subplot. Right arm, left knee, the bye week that was supposed to reset him. Roberts already locked in the next chapter. “He’ll be in there Game 3. We’ve just got to, again, take good at-bats and expect the best.” Expectation is not a plan when the chase rate is climbing and the barrel rate is not.
Freeman Found His Swing. The Lineup Still Needs Its Engine.
The counterargument writes itself, and Freddie Freeman is the loudest author. People will say the bigger issue is the supporting cast, that Will Smith (0-for-8), Andy Pages (0-for-7), and Tommy Edman have been colder, that Ohtani is still the least of the offensive problems. Fair on the raw hitless streaks. Wrong on the ceiling. Freeman mashed a solo homer in the fourth to knot it at 1-1, his first extra-base hit since early September after that .184 September slog with the bad knee. “I feel good, so I think we can be done with those questions,” Freeman said. Good. The Dodgers needed that. Edwin Díaz also showed up throwing a season-high 100.8 mph and stretching a scoreless run that now covers six innings since mid-September. Roberts called him great and labeled the outing a silver lining. Both of those things can be true and still leave the franchise short.
Because the Dodgers went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Sunday. Every run they have scored in this NLDS has come via home run. Freeman put the diagnosis on the table himself: “Got to find a way to score some runs without hitting a home run. I think that’s our biggest thing right now.” Situational baseball deserted them after Betts walked and Ohtani singled to open the fifth. Atlanta’s bullpen then retired the next 14 hitters until Muncy’s late blast. Blake Snell lasted only 3 2/3 innings on 90 pitches with five walks. The bullpen patched holes. The star did not create them.
Roberts sees the chase. “If you look at the at-bats, there’s a lot of chase. It’s hard to square up, put good swings on balls that are out of the zone.” That is the tell. When opposing staffs stop treating Ohtani like a nuclear deterrent and start challenging him middle-middle, the entire Dodgers order loses its leverage. Harris II tripled, scored on a wild pitch, then doubled home another run. Atlanta’s planned bullpen game worked because Kerr set a tone and the rest of the parade refused free bases. Raisel Iglesias closed it. The series is even. The pressure just flipped.
Game 3 in Atlanta Will Not Wait for Perfect Health
I am not grading this on regular-season mythology. I am grading it on October translation. The Dodgers ranked seventh in batting average with runners in scoring position during the year and third in OPS in those spots. None of that has shown up yet. A limited Ohtani still draws the intentional respect of the lineup card, but respect without production is just a name on a scorecard. Roberts will write him in again Tuesday at Truist Park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is lined up opposite Chris Sale. That matchup already carries enough oxygen. Add a quiet Ohtani and the Braves’ willingness to attack him, and the series becomes a three-game sprint where one more soft contact night turns a 1-1 deadlock into a 2-1 hole on the road.
The bye was supposed to heal him. Two games later the Braves are still throwing heaters in the heart of the zone and walking away clean. Freeman can carry stretches. Díaz can lock innings. Neither of them replaces the version of Ohtani who ends at-bats before the fifth pitch. Tuesday decides whether this roster still has that version, or whether Atlanta has already figured out how to play the quieter one.
