As Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani works his way back from the injured list, US outlet Dodgers Way reporter Katrina Stebbins has drawn criticism for a harsh assessment: “If the slump he was in before going on the IL continues, he’ll be an easy out for postseason opponents.” On 5ch, the fairness of that take sparked a debate that pulled in stats like WAR and OPS. Commenters compared his decline to Ichiro’s, traded conflicting stats from the 2024 and 2025 World Series batting lines, and the discussion spiraled into whether the Dodgers are actually a better team without Ohtani.
Shohei Ohtani being blasted over injury-related slump!? US media’s harsh verdict: “An easy out for opponents…”
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is progressing toward a return from the injured list (IL), though his current condition is described as “close to normal.” Even once he’s back, he may not immediately be the player he once was, according to Dodgers Way reporter Katrina Stebbins.
Regarding Ohtani, who was already struggling before landing on the IL, Stebbins said: “He’ll likely bat leadoff again once he’s back. But if he looks the way he did right before going on the IL, postseason opponents will be happy to take the easy outs he gives them early in games.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
Isn't Yahoo Japanese media though?
You can kind of see his personality in it — doesn't listen to anyone and just keeps repeating the same mistakes.
Thinking about it normally, isn't this referring to legacy/old media given the context?
Old media is out of their minds — they reported Ohtani as the mastermind during the Mizuhara illegal gambling scandal. Anything goes as long as it gets ratings.
Seems like a perfectly reasonable point to me.
His WAR is garbage though, what are you even talking about?
That's already out of reach, but he'll lose the HR count to Murakami, Okamoto, and Suzuki, so he's got to play no matter what.
Ichiro was washed up too — not just OPS, his WAR was garbage as well. Even within the team, only Pages and Muncy have a higher WAR than Ohtani.
What is this guy even saying — Ichiro was still racking up 200 hits at 32.
A casual who only looks at home run counts. What about Murakami's and Okamoto's WAR then? If low WAR is disqualifying like with Ohtani, huh?
Are you a casual fan or what?
Before Ohtani: regular-season specialists, knocked out in the postseason.
The moment Ohtani arrived: back-to-back World Series titles.
They don't waste effort piling on weak teams in the regular season — that's exactly why they can win in the postseason.
Meanwhile, 2024 World Series: .105 average, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .385 OPS.
Meanwhile, 2025 World Series: ERA over 7.
Can't bring up his 2025 batting stats, huh? That's exactly why nobody trusts you — cherry-picking only the convenient stuff and hiding whatever's inconvenient.
2025 postseason OPS: 1.096.
LMAO, "better off without him." I think what he's trying to say is that Ohtani was basically functioning as a lucky charm. He just can't accept what's actually happening on the field.
Ichiro started declining and became dead weight around age 31. He just looked better because he was on a team with nothing riding on the postseason — really he just dragged on with trash stats.
Unlike Ichiro, he's not chasing individual records. Last year too, he was in the home run title race, but once the division title was clinched, he sat out and gave up his shot at the HR crown. The Dodgers especially aim everything at the postseason, so they rest guys appropriately during the regular season and aren't even competing for regular-season win totals.
I doubt the people around him actually see it that way.
Are you talking about Ichiro? Because Ohtani's well-liked enough that teammates bring him up even when he's not around.
He's literally trying to play through injury for the team's sake though?
At 31 he was batting around .370 and setting a new hits record. He didn't start declining until after 35.
Batting average, huh… If his OPS were high, fine, but a high average paired with low OPS and low on-base percentage doesn't translate to wins. He was just forcing his hit total up, and his OPS was declining at a faster pace than Ohtani's.
Batting average .373 (his first .300 of the season), 6 HR (season high), 20 RBI (season high), OPS 1.215 (season high; August was .706)
Honestly, when it comes to Betts, it really does seem like he doesn't think much of Ohtani.
If this were Ohtani, you'd say he only started hitting in meaningless games after the postseason spot was already clinched. That's the thing about haters — their story conveniently changes to fit.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
It’s worth noting that this article is based on an assessment piece by a reporter at the US outlet Dodgers Way — not a statement from Ohtani himself or an official team announcement. Ohtani has not yet returned from the injured list, so no verdict has actually been reached based on real pitching or hitting performance. The main point of disagreement in the thread centered on how to interpret the all-encompassing metric “WAR.” Because it factors in defense and baserunning in addition to batting average and home runs, a player who stands out in batting average can still show up low in WAR — and the handling of this number fueled repeated, talking-past-each-other comparisons to Ichiro. Commenters on both sides also cherry-picked conflicting data — Ohtani’s batting slump in the 2024 World Series (.105 average) versus his strong 2025 postseason (1.096 OPS) — and readers should keep in mind that each is only part of the full picture. There was also a reference to the illegal gambling scandal involving Ippei Mizuhara that surfaced in 2024, but Ohtani’s own involvement was denied from the start, and the thread discussion proceeds on that assumption.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Dodgers-focused media outlet: “If Ohtani comes back, all he’ll do is give away easy outs”“.
