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The story
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has fallen into a severe batting slump as the postseason enters its late stages. The numbers tell the story: just 1 RBI in his last 91 plate appearances and no home runs in his last 94. With him going silent at the plate in scoring situations, local LA media have gone so far as to argue that “it may be necessary to drop him from the starting lineup and let him rest on the bench.” On 5ch, a thread debated the possible causes of the slump — concerns over his left knee and right arm, fatigue from playing in the WBC, and lifestyle changes since the WBC — with opinions split between those accepting the case for benching him and those defending him by pointing to his home run total and other stats.
Should Ohtani Be Benched? “He May Need to Sit on the Bench” — LA Media Fires Back: “He Can’t Help the Team Like This”
On October 4 (local time), the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 2-3 to the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the NL Division Series.
The lineup went completely silent, failing to get a single hit in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position. At the center of that struggle is the name Shohei Ohtani.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Ichiro barely made the postseason after his rookie year, so that's not really a fair comparison.
Is this from some LA tabloid, or is it "Daily Hyundai" or something? (a sarcastic jab implying the source isn't real journalism)
Ohtani → De Paula
Betts → Heeson
Smith → Lashing
(i.e., playing like replacement-level scrubs)
yeah.
No home runs in his last 94
Is this for real?
The second stat's bad enough, but isn't the first one way worse?
The idea is to put Teoscar in as DH instead
His defense has already cost them one play out there.
Now that you mention it, it's all Murakami these days.
Put another way, winning three straight absolutely requires his power.
Has it gotten to his eyes too now?
even the best player in the world, Ohtani
Just rest him a bit and let him recover
he's probably exhausted.
"Best in the world" at some bush-league sport, lol (a dig calling baseball a minor, backwater game)
The guy who used to see nothing but baseball now puts parenting ahead of it, and Mamiko ahead of it too.
Just looking at his body, you can tell his diet discipline has gone out the window.
That whole "sleeping 10+ hours a day" routine has probably changed completely by now too.
I mean, life isn't only baseball, and it's not really a good-or-bad thing.
But from our side, the only part of Ohtani we ever get to see is the baseball part, so personally that's a bit disappointing — though he's not living his life for our sake.
He's bulked up for his hitter-only role, so that's not strange.
If he really stopped caring about baseball, he wouldn't force himself to keep playing while his stats tank.
He's already made enough money for a lifetime, so he could just rest like Judge does.
Baseball's boring and tedious anyway, who cares.
Serves the trash media right.
He's not even in a slump to begin with.
That's his push-off leg, so this year might be rough.
And on top of that, the tendon in his right arm — the one he uses to pull the ball — is shot too.
If that's really the situation, I guess it's no wonder people are talking about benching him.
So that's why all his homers have gone to center/left and none have gone out to right field.
And maybe that's also why he's been taking fastballs right down the middle — pulling the ball must be too painful.
A lot of players who join the WBC end up slumping afterward, so playing in it right before a season where the team's going for a three-peat was a mistake.
But there were probably all sorts of "adult" circumstances involved, so turning it down probably wasn't really an option.
He's not playing in it.
That's entirely his own call to make.
Once he says he won't do it, no one can force him to.
Or is he simply past his expiration date?
Choke up on the bat and chop down on it.
Background and key points
What this article reports is a “bench him” argument pushed by local LA media — it is not an official policy shift announced by the Dodgers organization or manager Dave Roberts. The result of Game 2 of the Division Series was a 2-3 loss, but the team has not officially explained the specific cause of Ohtani’s slump. The theories raised in the thread — a bad left knee, a damaged tendon in the right arm — are purely speculation, and while some pointed to the effects of his WBC appearance, it should be noted that Ohtani himself has not confirmed he’ll play in the next WBC. Also worth noting: the thread’s comparison to Ichiro overlooks that Ichiro’s team at the time rarely had the chance to reach the postseason in the first place, so a simple stat comparison should be treated with caution.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread “[MLB] Should Ohtani Be Benched? “He May Need to Sit on the Bench” — LA Media Fires Back: “He Can’t Help the Team Like This”.”
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