Shohei Ohtani admits Dodgers' weak spot can be blamed on Angels' failures

Following Shohei Ohtani's mammoth 6-for-6 night at the plate against the Marlins, the same night he became the founding member of the both the 50-50 and the 51-51 Clubs, he posted an absurd stretch of hitting .708 with a 2.250 OPS through his game-winner against the Padres Wednesday. These are impossible numbers for an impossible player, and Ohtani has almost singlehandedly saved two of the Dodgers' biggest wins since leaving Miami, as Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman already seem to be afflicted with the Dodgers' postseason blues.

Ohtani is feeling himself, and he's feeling his team on the cusp of a division win for the first time in his career. He was the one to keep the Padres at bay on Wednesday night, with a two-hit, two-RBI game that tied and then won it for LA. The Padres slipped back to three games behind the Dodgers and took San Diego's control of their destiny out of their hands.

After his RBI single to put the Dodgers ahead by one in the sixth inning on Wednesday, Joe Davis shared a soundbite from Ohtani, "Ohtani early on this season was saying to the hitting coaches 'I find myself, anytime the bases are loaded and there's a runner in scoring position, trying too hard, because I'm trained to feel like this is gonna be our only shot.' Because that was the situation for six years of his career in Anaheim."

Shohei Ohtani reveals RISP issues with Dodgers are a result of losing years with Angels

Leave it to the Angels to screw up Ohtani's brain chemistry. If any team could do it, it would be them. Although it's clearly gotten better as of late, hitting with RISP has been an underlying issue for Ohtani this season. In April, it was a massive cause for concern, as Ohtani's general line still spoke to an MVP caliber player, but when whittled down to only show his performance with RISP, he was batting .053 with a .101 OPS halfway through that month.

Ohtani's numbers with RISP this season are obviously much improved now — .270 with a .869 OPS — but they're still his worst numbers since 2020. It makes sense why Ohtani has always felt like he's needed to swing away; the Angels failed to build a team around him for six years, and he was oftentimes their only hope. Coming to the Dodgers with the amount of money and expectations attached to him couldn't have helped with the pressure.

But even with Betts and Freeman struggling as of late and the lineup still being top heavy, the Dodgers obviously have a more complete lineup top to bottom, a group that can follow Ohtani and take some of the burden off of his shoulders. It seems like he's recognizing that now, and is settling into being himself with the better LA team.