The Dodgers head back to Los Angeles with their hopes of a three-peat in serious jeopardy. The Brewers took Game 2 by a 7-4 margin to hold serve at home, putting them two games away from their first pennant in 44 years. They’ll have an opportunity to take a commanding lead when the NLCS moves to Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
The Dodger offense hasn’t gotten going in October, largely because of the diminished form of their four-time MVP. Shohei Ohtani has just three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats. He went 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts tonight. Ohtani, who didn’t pitch after early June because of a left knee injury, has been plagued by a right biceps issue for the last few weeks. The Dodgers placed him on the 15-day injured list in mid-September, and it’s clear Ohtani hasn’t been close to full strength for some time.
Skipper Dave Roberts already dropped Ohtani from the top two lineup spots to hitting fourth or fifth for the last few games. It’s now reached the point where they’re not committing to having Ohtani in the lineup at all for their most important game of the year. Roberts tells Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he’ll have a conversation with Ohtani during tomorrow’s travel day before making a decision about whether to sit him for Game 3.
Ohtani’s power has evaporated over the past couple months. He only had one extra-base hit, a double, in the last five games of the regular season. It has been almost two months since his last home run, when he took Ryan Feltner deep at Coors Field on August 18. Ohtani didn’t homer in his final 18 games of the regular season, only the second time in his MLB career (September 2022 being the other) that he’s gone that long without one.
If the Dodgers do take Ohtani out of the lineup, it’d very likely mean the first career playoff start for 21-year-old Josue De Paula. The Dodgers have carried the top prospect as a bench bat after calling him up in September. De Paula hasn’t shied away from the moment, working two walks in three postseason plate appearances. He took a crucial base on balls against Didier Fuentes to help the Dodgers take a decisive lead in Game 4 of their Division Series. De Paula kept Game 1 of the NLCS alive by working a two-out walk against Trevor Megill in the ninth inning, but Mookie Betts flew out to end the game 2-1.
De Paula is technically an outfielder, but the Dodgers clearly don’t want him drawing defensive assignments in October. He hit well in a two-week audition at DH when Ohtani was on the injured list. De Paula had a 27-homer season with a .303/.401/.547 slash line in Double-A this year and skipper the top minor league level.
Milwaukee has already tabbed lefty Robert Gasser as their Game 3 starter. The Dodgers figure to counter with Blake Snell. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy suggested this evening that Dustin May, who tossed an inning of relief behind Logan Henderson tonight, is likely to come back to start Game 4 on Thursday.