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The story
On October 5, 2026, the Dodgers dropped Game 2, tying the series at 1-1. Shohei Ohtani notched a hit for the second straight game, but he’s now gone 94 at-bats without a home run — a career-worst drought that shows no sign of ending. Meanwhile, Roki Sasaki hit a top speed of 164.3 km/h (about 102 mph) and worked two scoreless innings. On 5ch’s live-game thread, opinions split between blaming the loss on Ohtani’s slump and pointing to defensive/bullpen miscues like Edman’s baserunning blunder and Vovich’s wild pitch. Game 3 will be a pitching duel between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chris Sale.
Dodgers lose a close one, series tied 1-1 — Shohei Ohtani gets a hit for the 2nd straight game but is stuck on a career-worst 94 at-bats without a homer; Roki Sasaki tops out at 164.3 km/h in two scoreless innings… Game 3 is Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Chris Sale
October 5, 2026, 12:21 PM
Sports Hochi
Source: hochi.news / Original article here
What people said
Ohtani's brutal slump is a huge reason why.
Roberts just dragged him in public — what are you gonna do now?
Let's hear the Ohtani faithful's excuses.
It's on Roberts for batting the current version of Ohtani 2nd.
He's lost the home-run threat, and without that he's no clutch hitter.
As he is right now, he'd actually be scary hitting 6th-8th instead.
The faithful: 'No, it's Roberts' bullpen management that's bad.'
Without those, they win that game easily.
He's turned into the opposite of a 'Mr. October.'
That's just how the postseason works.
Think I'll root for the White Sox this year instead.
And he was the only one who carried the rotation and hit the innings-qualifying mark all season, too.
Worried this 'third starter' treatment is gonna tank Yamamoto's motivation.
Yamamoto's strong on the road.
Then in Game 4 they get swallowed up by the road crowd's momentum again,
drop another close one, and probably get knocked out of the division series.
Vovich's sulky attitude after the wild pitch was no good.
Even as a long shot, at least go make the tag!
Zero signs of him turning it around.
As for Ohtani, yeah, probably don't expect a homer — tough break.
Edman's failed bunt was huge.
Ohtani being totally nonfunctional is a massive loss of momentum and firepower.
Unless Yamamoto throws something like 8 scoreless innings, this probably ends with back-to-back road losses.
Not much to expect from him anymore.
Swung through a pitch that was clearly a ball inside for strike three.
After that, chased a high pitch out of the zone into an infield pop-up.
Bottom line, he's chasing way too many pitches outside the zone.
They really shouldn't be playing him the rest of this season.
Absolutely nothing to expect from him.
If he can't deliver that, it's THE END for the Dodgers.
has had his life bet on the line yet again.
Yamamoto: 'Can't get motivated as the third starter' (picking his nose, visibly unbothered)
Background and key points of this discussion
Ohtani’s ’94 at-bats without a home run’ is a number that captures just how long his power drought has stretched, and the thread’s repeated use of ‘career-worst’ drives home how serious his slump is seen to be. Most replies pinned the loss on Ohtani’s slump itself, but plenty of others blamed individual plays instead — Edman’s failed bunt, Vovich’s wild pitch — splitting opinion over which was really the deciding factor. There were also complaints about the rotation order: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who carried the rotation as the only pitcher to clear the innings-qualifying threshold all regular season, was still slotted as the ‘third starter’ for Game 3, which drew pushback. Roki Sasaki’s outing — used in a reliever-like role and working two scoreless innings this time — was also a talking point, though the source material doesn’t indicate how he’ll be used going forward.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread ‘Dodgers lose a close one, series tied 1-1 — Shohei Ohtani gets a hit for the 2nd straight game but is stuck on a career-worst 94 at-bats without a homer; Roki Sasaki tops out at 164.3 km/h with two scoreless innings… Game 3 is Yoshinobu Yamamoto.’
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