TORONTO — A day after he had the game of his life, of anyone’s life, to help the Los Angeles Dodgers close out the pennant, Shohei Ohtani left his NLCS MVP trophy in the middle of the Dodgers’ revamped home clubhouse.

In front of it, a placard greeted everyone as they started their workouts for the World Series.

Team effort, the placard read.

“It’s a long story,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton.

The short version involves an air of frustration for Ohtani this October. His 3-homer, 10-strikeout masterpiece in Game 4 glossed over a month of uncharacteristic offensive struggles. Overall, this postseason, he is 9 for 41 (.219) with 17 strikeouts.

The longer version dates to last year’s World Series, when an ailing Ohtani batted just .105 (2 for 19) with no home runs and no RBIs. The Dodgers won it all anyway — team effort, indeed.

Yet Ohtani will always command the world’s attention. Speaking for 15 minutes at World Series media day on Thursday, the two-way player stared out at a wave of cameras and microphones.

Shohei Ohtani, in line to start Game 4 on the mound, hopes to deliver a better performance at the plate than he did last World Series. (Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)

In advance of Game 1 on Friday, he was asked to debate the discography of Kendrick Lamar and Drake (“I’m not too knowledgeable of music,” Ohtani said). He again rehashed his decision to sign with the Dodgers over the Toronto Blue Jays, who they will now face as they seek to repeat as champions.

He also disclosed that he would take batting practice on the field on Thursday at Rogers Centre. He has rarely taken on-field batting practice in his two seasons with the Dodgers, but a recent session fueled his offensive outburst to help the Dodgers to the pennant.

“There are some things that I want to be able to do on the field that you can only do on the field, so I want to do that and just make sure – especially considering how we just don’t have a lot of games left,” Ohtani said.

What is he hoping to maintain in keeping this level of his routine?

“That’s a secret,” Ohtani said with a laugh.

Everyone, it seems, is waiting for Ohtani’s signature moment on the game’s brightest stage. He made his World Series debut last October, but tore the labrum on his left (non-throwing) shoulder before the end of Game 2. He spent the last three games more as a decoy and less as the dominant looming threat the Dodgers are hoping he can be this time around. He reached base four total times as the Dodgers dispatched the New York Yankees in five games.

The Dodgers will probably need more from him this time around. “I hope it’s completely different for Shohei” in this year’s World Series, manager Dave Roberts said.

Ohtani essentially agreed with Roberts’ assessment when it was relayed to him during a session with the Japanese media. A few days later, Ohtani put the team on his back to get back to the Fall Classic.

He hopes his struggles are behind him. He was 4 for his last 33 (with 14 strikeouts) leading into Game 4 of the NLCS. That night, his three home runs alone would’ve been his defining October performance as he launched balls out of Dodger Stadium and quelled fears about his bat being neutralized. Ohtani’s six innings on the mound were dominant, giving the Dodgers the luxury of having the best “fourth” starter in the sport.

Ohtani likely will have to wait until Game 4 of the World Series to pitch again. He remains the main character at the start of this Fall Classic, nonetheless, and will occupy most of the Blue Jays’ bandwidth. They know they must slow down the likely four-time MVP.

“He’s a special player,” said Blue Jays Game 1 starter Trey Yesavage.

“Elite talent, obviously,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I think you have to be very mindful of when the top of the order is coming around, right?”

“You feel Shohei when he’s in the hole, let alone on deck or in the batter’s box,” Roberts said. “You feel it. He’s always looming.”

The threat is one thing. Delivering on it is another. The Dodgers are optimistic that Ohtani tapped into something when hitting on the field at Dodger Stadium in the middle of the NLCS.

“It’s a little bit of just mixing up the feel of his day.” hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said. “Just getting some feedback on the ball flight. Shohei pulls the ball more than most guys. It looks OK in the cage because it’s a net, but it’s really topspin to the pull side. So just getting feedback … it’s helpful.”

The Dodgers are also banking on the fact that Ohtani … is Shohei Ohtani, which brings things back to the trophy sitting in the middle of the Dodgers clubhouse for the last week.

Ohtani’s star turn in Game 4 singlehandedly won him the MVP honors, something Ohtani waved away when presented with the trophy at the podium after the game, calling it a “team effort.”

Kiké Hernández, in particular, disagreed with the characterization.

“Shohei proceeds to lie and say the MVP was a team effort,” Hernández said. “I was yelling at him that he was full of s— because he’s the one who hit three homers and he was the one who punched out 10 that night.”

So when Ohtani went to bring the trophy back home with him that night, Hernández made sure to remind Ohtani what he’d said.

Ohtani went and put the trophy back in the middle of the room, leaving it there. When the team arrived two days later for a workout, there was the trophy along with the placard.

Maybe he’ll add some more hardware to the middle of the room after the World Series, too.