MILWAUKEE -- It was nearly one year ago that Shohei Ohtani was slumping badly at the plate through the NLDS and the beginning of the NLCS.
Then, almost out of nowhere, Ohtani broke out with a masterpiece of a two-way performance: three homers to back 10 strikeouts across six scoreless innings, almost singlehandedly beating the Brewers in NLCS Game 4 as the Dodgers swept their way back to the World Series.
So even though it has been more than two months since Ohtani has hit to his capabilities, the Dodgers are confident that he can find something at the plate this postseason.
"In my opinion, he's the best player in the world," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said after the Dodgers won the NLDS in Atlanta to set up an NLCS rematch with the Brewers. "And at some point, it's going to click for him, and the other team's going to be in big trouble when that happens."
The Brewers saw Ohtani go from sleeping giant to unstoppable force in one game last year. They'll do all they can to avoid him awakening again this series.
"You got to still pitch like he's the best in the world," said Game 1 starter Jacob Misiorowski, "and trust your stuff and go beat him at his game and do your job."
One key difference between this year and last is health. Before the NLDS, Ohtani acknowledged that he will have to manage lingering injuries to his right biceps and left knee -- which have bothered him since at least June and played a role in his offensive slump to end the regular season -- through the postseason.
The Dodgers believe that Ohtani is in as good a place physically as he has been in some time after additional rest during his 15-day IL stint in September and the bye week ahead of the NLDS. But whether it's his mechanics or his plate discipline, something is still not quite right with his swing.
On the eve of the NLCS opener at American Family Field, Ohtani hit off the velocity machine for several rounds of batting practice. Hitting on the field is a rarity for Ohtani, who has only done it a handful of times this year. It tends to be something he turns to when trying to find something with his swing.
"I think that today his work was great," hitting coach Aaron Bates said. "His work's been great in the cages and even into the games, too. I think it was more about just, again, the feels that he wants to feel."
Ohtani went 2-for-13 (.154) and struck out four times in four NLDS games against the Braves. He reached once per game, knocking base hits in the first two games and walking in the final two games.
One of Ohtani's greatest contributions that series started with a plate appearance in which he did not swing the bat once. In the second inning of Game 4, Ohtani walked on five pitches, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He then scored on another Braves fielding error.
Entering Saturday, only 37.5% of the pitches Ohtani has seen have been in the zone, the second-lowest rate among batters who have seen at least 50 pitches this postseason. And among batters who have seen at least 25 out-of-zone pitches, he's chasing 33.3% of them, a tick above average for that group (30.7%) and his regular-season average (30%).
As Ohtani has tried to get going, manager Dave Roberts has seen his superstar trying to do too much at times, which may have contributed to some of the chase.
"Once the effort level comes back down, then you'll see the ball deeper, see the ball longer, swing at better pitches, that kind of thing," Bates said. "Mechanically, he was in a pretty good spot, so I think it's just dialing it back a little bit."
The point being: Ohtani may not have homered since Aug. 18, and he only has one RBI since then. But opposing teams will still pitch around him. He has to do what he can to avoid getting himself out.
"If he's in the batter's box, he's still a threat," Roberts said. "He swung the bat well against these guys last postseason. Those pitchers, their memories are long. Now it's just up to Shohei to understand that and control the strike zone. They're just not going to give in to him regardless of how he might be swinging the bat over the last couple months, in my opinion."