![\"Major](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/MLB.vresize.200.200.medium.0.png\")
MLB Related Stories<\/p>\nShohei Ohtani continues to struggle at the plate for the Los Angeles Dodgers, leaving the ballclub playing catch-up early after dropping Game 1 of the NLCS to the Milwaukee Brewers.<\/p>\n
Ohtani is a four-time MVP \u2014 winning two in each league \u2014 but right when the Dodgers need him most his bat has gone cold. With Los Angeles already trailing by a game heading on the road for Game 2, he remains the make-or-break factor they need to overcome the Brewers.<\/p>\n
On the “MLB on FOX” post-game show, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez weighed in on Ohtani\u2019s quiet postseason. Still, both analysts agreed that with or without his bat heating up, the Dodgers should be unfazed and fully capable of taking control in Game 2.<\/p>\n
“They need Shohei Ohtani if we\u2019re going to see the Dodgers at full strength,” Jeter said. “I don\u2019t think it\u2019s easy to flip a switch, but they don\u2019t have to flip a switch mentally because mentally you walk into that clubhouse, I bet they have the same demeanor as if they won Game 1 because they\u2019ve been here before.”<\/p>\n
Rodriguez highlighted just how valuable Ohtani is to the Dodgers’ lineup. It\u2019s not just that his offense is struggling, but you miss his complete presence on the field, whether it’s his raw power, high batting average or ability to create scoring opportunities on the basepaths.<\/p>\n
The numbers tell the story. Ohtani is hitting just .188 with three hits across 16 postseason at-bats, leaving a massive void at the top of the Dodgers’ lineup.<\/p>\n
“As far as Ohtani goes, the thing why he\u2019s so valuable is you\u2019re not just missing power or batting average or running the bases or stealing bases,” Rodriguez said. “You\u2019re missing all of it. Plus his presence in the lineup.”<\/p>\n
MLB Related Stories<\/p>\n
Even with Ohtani\u2019s struggles, Rodriguez believes the Dodgers can still win the series if they drop him lower in the batting order to take off the pressure. But if he can\u2019t turn things around and regain his usual form, it only increases the urgency for the rest of the lineup to step up.<\/p>\n
“So can they win? Maybe you can kind of hide him in the fourth and fifth slot,” Rodriguez continued. “He did go first to third today, but that\u2019s one very hard person to replace. You\u2019re gonna have the other guys to step up and make up for it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani continues to struggle at the plate for the Los Angeles Dodgers, leaving the ballclub playing catch-up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,57,19,2328,2304,59,4,2305,2303,468],"class_list":["post-827752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-baseball","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-shohei-ohtani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117429366133372522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827752","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=827752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}