Dave Roberts' Shohei Ohtani assurances sound delusional after Dodgers' NLDS Game 3 showing

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a Shohei Ohtani problem. They've tried to deny it, but dropping him down to fifth in Tuesday's starting lineup against the Atlanta Braves confirmed they're just as uncertain about him as fans are.

Going into Game 3, he was 2-for-8 with two strikeouts and no extra-base hits. His first single in Game 1 was hard-hit at 105.4 MPH, but his power waned throughout the rest of his plate appearances. Game 2 was even more concerning. Of the 22 pitches he saw, 14 were out of the strike zone, and he swung and missed at eight of them.

It was more of the same on Tuesday. In his first at-bat against Chris Sale, he went down on a pitch so far out of the zone it didn't show up in MLB.com's Game Day view. He reached twice thanks to catchers interference and a seven-pitch walk, and a fly out to left field left the bat at 101.3 MPH, but that strikeout was so hard to watch that it'll be all anyone remembers.

Ohtani has almost always posted above-average strikeout rates, but he's also more than happy to take his walks. Not during these last three games, though. He's pressing, hard.

Perhaps the most alarming thing about his plate appearances this postseason is that the usually unflappable Shohei Ohtani seems truly rattled.

Dave Roberts, Dodgers are still confident of a Shohei Ohtani turnaround, but the evidence suggests otherwise

Roberts said after the game, "I thought the intent, his at-bats, were better," and "He's still going to come to life. It'll happen."

It's never been smart to bet against Ohtani, sure. But that's really, really hard to believe right now.

After that awful-looking strikeout, the at-bats were better to a certain degree. At the very least, he didn't swing at anything else outside of the zone as he appeared to calm himself down. The hard-hit ball is a positive sign.

But it's not hard to tell that he's still battling through discomfort just by watching him swing. He's still depending more on his upper body than his legs. Even when he makes contact, it looks lucky.

The Dodgers will have the entire offseason to assess his myriad injuries — neck, biceps, and knee — and maybe even decided that he needs surgery to address some of them, and there's little chance they would bench him outright, but to promise that Ohtani will turn back into himself overnight feels like a losing game for Roberts and LA.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow