Add The California Post on Google DETROIT — Sunday was set up to be one of those days where Shohei Ohtani changes the narrative:
About the uncertainty surrounding his health; after the ongoing challenges with knee and biceps injuries this weekend threw his pitching plans back into a dubious flux. About his imperiled chances in the National League MVP race — following a three-homer outburst from chief competitor Pete Crow-Armstrong the day before.
And, mostly, about his own underwhelming play over recent weeks, in which his lack of form at the plate has amplified the Dodgers’ teamwide slump.
This time, however, there was no magic from the 32-year-old superstar; no towering swing nor transformational moment to remind the baseball world of his stature as its premier player.
Instead, while the rest of his club enjoyed a sigh of relief in a 6–1 win over the Detroit Tigers, Ohtani suffered an 0-for-5 clunker that dropped him to 5-for-40 over his last 10 games.
“Obviously,” manager Dave Roberts said, “we still got to get Shohei on track.”
Sunday mirrored many of Ohtani’s recently underwhelming performances: There was poor pitch selection, leading to his 11th multi-strikeout game out of 27 this month. There was a flawed approach with his swing even when he did make contact, leading to three batted balls that, despite being hit hard, all failed to escape the infield.
As a result, Ohtani’s numbers aren’t looking as formidable as they once did: His batting average is down to .280 — the lowest it has been since the end of May. His .908 OPS still ranks top-five in the majors, but would mark his worst in a season since 2022.
More importantly, Ohtani’s OPS is also now well behind Crow-Armstrong’s, which rose to .944 following his tour de force Saturday.
Side by side, the stat lines of the two MVP candidates no longer look quite so similar as Ohtani is slashing .280/.379/.529 with 30 home runs and 80 RBIs while Crow-Armstrong is up to .282/.377/.567 with 36 home runs and 89 RBIs.
More than that, Crow-Armstrong also continues to pace Ohtani in value-based advanced metrics like wins-above-replacement (9.1 to 6.9, per Fangraphs), thanks to the surplus value he generates as the game’s top center fielder.
After three consecutive, unanimous MVP honors, and four total in his career, Ohtani has gone this year from frontrunner to next-best.
Ohtani was supposed to begin chipping away at that deficit Sunday, of course, when he was originally expected to return to pitching for the first time since early July. However, continued problems with his knee and biceps scuttled those plans. And now, whether he even returns to the mound this season appears to at least be somewhat in question.
For the Dodgers, the bigger priority is getting his offense back on track first.
“Once we get him going,” Roberts said, “[our offense is] going to be fun to watch.”
As he’s done all year during Ohtani’s return to a full-time two-way role, Roberts downplayed the correlation between his star player’s recent pitching ramp-up and decline in offensive production.
The skipper said Sunday that Ohtani’s problems are isolated to a variety of routine hitting flaws.
“Sometimes he’s taking balls that are good pitches to hit, then expanding. Other times, I think the direction, the intent is a little too much to the pull side,” Roberts said. “So I think with Shohei, it’s a combo.”
Where Ohtani’s pitching plan could impact his hitting, however, is in the way he dedicates his limited time over the rest of the regular season.
Every hour spent playing catch in the outfield, or grinding through a bullpen session, or (if he does get back in the Dodgers’ rotation) preparing for a start is one he can’t spend working on his swing, or getting extra time in the batting cages, or maximizing his potential as the game’s most fearsome slugger.
Team officials are conscious of that balance, and it will be taken into account once they return to Los Angeles this week and decide on next steps for Ohtani as a pitcher.
“Hopefully we can get home, get him in a better spot physically, mentally, whatever it is,” Roberts said, after revealing Saturday that the four-time MVP is still “not 100%” with his multiple injuries.
“Everyone goes through these things,” he added. “But we gotta get him going.”
As much as Ohtani’s MVP chances will depend on it, so too could the Dodgers’ season.
Because regardless of whether he’s pitching or not, their offense will always first and foremost revolve around him.
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