{"id":822742,"date":"2026-10-06T06:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/822742\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T06:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:51:23","slug":"move-shohei-ohtani-down-in-dodgers-lineup-dave-roberts-open-to-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/822742\/","title":{"rendered":"Move Shohei Ohtani down in Dodgers’ lineup? Dave Roberts ‘open’ to it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As the Dodgers<\/a> mull potential lineup changes for Game 3 of the National League Division Series, manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said he is \u201copen\u201d to moving Shohei Ohtani<\/a> lower in the batting order.<\/p>\n

In his three seasons with the Dodgers, Ohtani has batted first or second in every game he has started. However, as he has admitted he is trying to \u201cmanage\u201d in the aftermath of knee and arm injuries, and as Roberts has acknowledged Ohtani is \u201cnot 100%,\u201d the lack of success could compel the manager to replace him at the top of the lineup with a more productive hitter at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would,\u201d Roberts said Monday. \u201cI would. I think it\u2019s something that, you know, I think moving him from 1 to 2 \u2014 but going further than that? I\u2019m open to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s something that if I do, I would obviously have the conversation with Shohei to explain why. And at the end of the day every conversation I\u2019ve had with him is whatever\u2019s best for the team, he\u2019s all-in on. So I know that undoubtedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are batting .215 through the first two games of the NLDS, with the Atlanta Braves scheduled to pitch left-handed ace Chris Sale in Game 3 on Tuesday. If the Dodgers lose, they would need to win back-to-back elimination games to advance beyond this series.<\/p>\n

Roberts said the lineup changes he would consider include starting Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez and Miguel Rojas, both of whom hit well against left-handers. That could mean infielders Max Muncy (0 for 7 against Sale, with five strikeouts) and Tommy Edman (0 for 11 against Sale) might not start.<\/p>\n

Center fielder Andy Pages, who batted so poorly last October he was benched for the final three games of the World Series, is hitless in seven at-bats in this series, with four strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna continue to give Andy leash,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI believe in him. I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we\u2019re gonna need him to be an active part of our team.<\/p>\n

Roberts said he did not envision benching catcher Will Smith, who is 0 for 8 in the series. The Dodgers\u2019 backup catcher, Hunter Feduccia, is a career .205 hitter with no postseason experience.<\/p>\n

But, even with the Dodgers\u2019 star-studded lineup, the spotlight shines brightest on Ohtani.<\/p>\n

Ohtani has not homered since Aug. 18. He hit .157 between then and the end of the regular season, striking out in 41% of his at-bats. In this series, he has two hits and two strikeouts in eight at-bats, and his inability to refrain from swinging at pitches outside the strike zone has become a glaring weakness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not 100%,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut, at the end of the day, he can still do a better job of staying in the strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani hasn\u2019t given the Braves a reason to challenge him within the strike zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything orbits around Shohei, in the sense of his talent,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd the Braves are going to enter with caution. And, so, knowing that, they\u2019re going to continue to expand as long as we keep giving that to them. So until we show some discipline, they\u2019re going to continue to kind of use that playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As the Dodgers mull potential lineup changes for Game 3 of the National League Division Series, manager Dave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[7762,46,5,1560,39,5499,14,1994,1258,100112,1602,1646,468,2512,2350,235],"class_list":["post-822742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-at-bat","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baseball","tag-dave-roberts","tag-dodgers","tag-end","tag-game","tag-lineup","tag-ohtani","tag-productive-hitter","tag-roberts","tag-series","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-strike-zone","tag-strikeout","tag-team"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117392643708202431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}