Shohei Ohtani's BP admits what Dodgers fans already know about postseason struggles

Despite the Yankees' early exit from the postseason, reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge finally got that old October monkey off of his back, when he hit .500 with a 1.273 OPS in the Wild Card and ALDS, powering a game-tying home run in ALDS Game 3 to keep New York's hopes alive (for a day).

But it seems that whatever postseason illness that has always afflicted Judge has now been transferred over to the other best player in the game, reigning NL MVP Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani hit just .230 with a .766 OPS last postseason and barely contributed in the World Series, but he sort of had an excuse in the form of a shoulder injury that he underwent offseason surgery to repair. This year, there are no such excuses, and he's gone 2-for-25 at the plate since the Wild Card series (when he had two homers and four RBI).

He showed signs of life in NLCS Game 2, when he picked up his first RBI since NLDS Game 2 against the Phillies with a single, but his struggles have become one of the talking points of the postseason.

On Wednesday, Ohtani took batting practice at Dodger Stadium for the first time this year. He hit a monster that almost left the building, but that was in BP. If his struggles persist through the rest of the NLCS and a potential World Series run, he's going to get just as much flak as Judge has.

Shohei Ohtani takes season-first batting practice at Dodger Stadium in an attempt to right his postseason woes

Of course, the beauty of this team is that they can and are dominating without contributions from Ohtani. The only postseason game they've lost so far was NLDS Game 3 to Philadelphia, and that's taken contributions from across the lineup, some awful defense from the opposing team, and historic starting pitching.

It seems that Ohtani is being a good sport about it too; after NLCS Game 2, he posted pictures from Yoshinobu Yamamoto's complete game and topped them off with a picture of himself whiffing (he struck out three times that night).

But even if they can win without him, the Dodgers need to be able to depend on Ohtani in high-leverage situations, and he just hasn't been able to perform thus far. If hitting bombs off of a slow-throwing Dodgers coach is what he needs to get back into his rhythm, swing away.