The Dodgers should clinch the National League West within the next week. That will make 14 consecutive postseason appearances, and no team in major league history has more.
To the record books, the Dodgers can say hi. To their chances of getting the best version of their best hitter for the run toward a third consecutive World Series championship, the Dodgers must say bye.
You could argue the Dodgers would benefit from a postseason bye because they have the oldest position players in the league, but pretty much the same group won the World Series without a bye last season.
You could argue the Dodgers would benefit because they could line up their starting pitching just the way they like for the division series, but there are no bad choices among the four aces: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani flies out to left field against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
No, the Dodgers absolutely need the bye because it would provide five days of rest for Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers just gave him four, before he returned to the lineup Monday, and his roster of ailments will be managed rather than resolved for the rest of the season.
Without a bye, the Dodgers would get just one day between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. Too much risk for too little reward?
Between now and the start of the playoffs, the Dodgers have a critical and conflicting mission: Get Ohtani enough at-bats to get him back in the swing and preserve him in bubble wrap as much as possible.
Step one, as Ohtani acknowledged Monday, is for him to stop pitching this season. That should help with the healing of Ohtani’s battered body: knee, arm, neck, hip. But, for all the blessings of a two-way superhero, the Dodgers can’t shut him down entirely, at least not until he gets his swing right.
“As long as I’m playing in games, it’s not exactly the best way to recover and heal,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “Of course, the best mode of recovery is to completely not play. But right now I just want to make sure that I’m playing, playing well and just focusing on the now.”
Can the Dodgers win the World Series without Ohtani in the starting rotation? They did last year, when he lost Game 4 of the World Series and was dismissed in the third inning of Game 7 — and that was without Skubal on their roster.
Can the Dodgers win the World Series without Ohtani dominating at bat?
In the wild-card round, he hit two of the Dodgers’ five home runs. In the National League Championship Series, he hit three of the Dodgers’ six home runs, with a .500 on-base percentage. In the World Series, he led the Dodgers in home runs (three), doubles (three) and walks (nine), with a ridiculous 1.278 OPS.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani sits in the dugout during a win over the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Now? Ohtani has six extra-base hits in the past 25 days. His last home run: Aug. 18, and since then he has six hits in 49 at-bats (.122), with 21 strikeouts.
Ohtani believes he can return to form as a hitter despite the injuries.
“I should have enough experience to be able to address any kinks or injuries or anything like that with the swing,” he said. “I’m going to use this as an opportunity to add on to the experience that I’ve had previously and be able to address it regardless.”
For all his recent hard times, Ohtani is one of five players in the majors with a .900 OPS. The Dodgers will not only take that, but build around it. For the Dodgers, Job 1 is to make sure he can hit in October.
“It is,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Him being in the lineup, optimally, is the best for the Dodgers.”
So long as the Dodgers can get him into the lineup, they’re willing to consider anything else.
“We can be successful with him at the top,” Roberts said. “I’m not blind, if there’s something dynamic that might be better, whether he’s hitting second or third, then I’m open to it. But I don’t want to make that decision quite yet.”
To Ohtani, it isn’t as simple as “stop pitching, hit better.” But, then again, maybe it can be.
“I’m confident that my overall performance should be better moving forward,” Ohtani said. “I think the thing that I was more focused on was making sure that the pitching wouldn’t cause the worse scenario, which was for me to not be able to play at all.”
That still could be at risk with a flareup or recurrence of an injury, which is why the Dodgers need to juggle getting Ohtani back into his swing with minimizing his playing time before the Dodgers’ real season starts.
The Dodgers have a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the race for the second and final NL playoff bye. The Dodgers also boast a 50-16 record against teams with losing records, with 15 of their final 18 games scheduled against teams with losing records.
On Monday, Ohtani played, for the first time in five days. He got no hits, but he reported no discomfort. That was progress.
The date that counts the most: Sept. 29, three weeks from Tuesday. If the Dodgers are off that day, proud owners of a playoff bye, that should give them the best chance at another magical Ohtani October.