LOS ANGELES -- Try as he might to play through right biceps and left knee injuries that have lingered since at least June, Shohei Ohtani has not performed to his capabilities for more than two months.
And although the Dodgers, down 0-2 in the NL Championship Series, had a conversation about sitting him for Game 3 on Wednesday, Ohtani was "adamant" that he feels good enough to play, manager Dave Roberts said on Tuesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
No star player wants to take themselves out of action, especially for critical games like these. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman previously said that while Ohtani has been a good communicator throughout his injury saga, he has not always accurately conveyed how he's feeling. But the Dodgers are taking him at his word on the eve of a must-win Game 3.
"He was very convicted that he is onto something mechanically," Roberts said. "He was adamant that he can help us. He's well enough to help us win a baseball game. So that's all I needed to hear."
Roberts likened it to the call he had to make with Freddie Freeman during the 2024 postseason, when he dealt with a badly sprained right ankle. Freeman sat out of three games -- NLDS Game 3 and NLCS Games 4 and 6 -- before appearing in all five World Series games.
In his last 35 games, regular season and postseason, Ohtani is hitting .197 with a .629 OPS. The last time he homered was Aug. 18 at Coors Field, and he has driven in only one run since then. His 110 plate appearances without a home run, including the postseason, are a career high (previously 104 plate appearances from 2022-23).
Ohtani took responsibility for his poor performance, but downplayed the impact of his injuries.
"The symptoms shouldn't be the reason why I can't hit," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton on Tuesday, speaking to the media for the first time since the eve of the NLDS.
This postseason, Ohtani is 3-for-20 (.150) with no extra-base hits. He has struck out seven times and walked three times. While he began the NLDS hitting second in the order, Roberts has since dropped him to the cleanup spot, and as low as fifth against left-hander Chris Sale.
Ohtani believes that he is trending in the right direction with his mechanics. He did not directly link any lingering symptoms he is feeling to the current disjointedness of his swing.
"I think there's different approaches to this," Ohtani said, "whether that be focusing on reducing the symptoms and getting rid of the pain and/or just making sure that I'm moving well in the swing."
Even as Ohtani has struggled, opposing teams have continued to pitch him with care. Of the 26 hitters who have seen at least 100 pitches this postseason, Ohtani's 40.7% in-zone rate was the sixth-lowest through Monday's action. It may be no coincidence that he did not swing the bat once in his two most productive plate appearances, walking and scoring in both NLDS Game 4 and NLCS Game 1.
The Brewers have seen firsthand how Ohtani can break out of a slump seemingly out of nowhere, having been on the wrong side of his two-way masterpiece in Game 4 of last year's NLCS.
"We remember vividly at this time last year that he maybe had the best baseball game ever played the day he pitched against us and hit a home run every time up, it seemed like," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "You can't forget that, his capabilities, whatever."
Some of Ohtani's most glaring issues are that he's chasing at an elevated rate and his timing has looked off. Lately, he hasn't been hitting the ball hard. Of his 13 batted-ball events this postseason, only five were hard-hit, with exit velocities of 95 mph or higher -- and all of those came in the NLDS. His hardest-hit batted ball in the NLCS was an 86.2 mph flyout off Aaron Ashby in Game 2.
Ohtani has taken unusual measures in an effort to get right. He has hit on the field on four straight days heading into Game 3. He took on-field batting practice only a handful of times during the regular season, typically preferring to work on his swing in a controlled environment in the cage.
He's done unusual things in games, as well -- notably showing bunt on the first pitch he saw from JoJo Romero on Monday.
"Shoot, he squared to bunt in Game 2 to potentially get on base," Roberts said. "That just speaks to [him doing] whatever it takes to help the team win."
The Dodgers' offense has been out of whack overall, and they sorely miss Ohtani's production. One player should not make or break their three-peat bid -- but if anyone could single-handedly swing the momentum, it would be a generational talent like Ohtani.
"We obviously need his help," Teoscar Hernández said after Game 2. "I feel bad for him. I know what he's capable of. He's been dealing with some stuff in the past. We don't know if it's still there. But it's Shohei. Any moment he can come through."