LOS ANGELES -- After indicating that the Dodgers' lineup could look "a little bit different" following a lackluster performance in Game 4 of the World Series, manager Dave Roberts shuffled his order for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
The most notable changes: Will Smith moved up to the two-hole in front of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and Alex Call drew the start in left field, shifting Kiké Hernández to center and bumping Andy Pages from the lineup for the first time this postseason.
"Getting Alex in there at the bottom, just the at-bat quality, seeing pitches, the potential to get somebody on base for Shohei [Ohtani] at the top," Roberts said. "I feel good with Kiké in center field and Alex's defense in left. And then as far as Mookie and Will, I feel that that's the best way to win the game tonight."
Roberts had also discussed the possibility of playing Tommy Edman in center field, which would've opened up second base for Miguel Rojas, but Edman has spent the year managing a nagging right ankle that landed him on the injured list twice during the regular season. Edman saw his first action in center since Sept. 24 during Game 3, playing the final five innings there.
Sitting Pages had been on Roberts' mind for a while, as the 24-year-old has gone 4-for-50 (.080) with no walks this postseason. Call has reached base in seven of his 12 plate appearances this postseason, but he has played sparingly since the NLDS.
Pages had primarily been hitting ninth and was not doing his job by turning the lineup over for leadoff man Ohtani, whom the Blue Jays have shown little inclination to pitch to anyway. But even as Roberts mulled over whether to bench Pages, he made a point of saying that the Dodgers' offensive scuffles did not fall solely on the nine-hole hitter.
It has been a team-wide issue, and the top of the lineup has not been immune.
Ohtani has heated up at the plate, just as Betts has gone in the opposite direction. Betts continued his late-season surge through the first two rounds of the postseason but has just five hits in 34 at-bats since the beginning of the NLCS. The last time Betts hit third prior to Wednesday was Sept. 8, 2021.
When Betts slumped through the first two-thirds of the regular season, Roberts was reluctant to move him down in the order, instead bumping him up to the leadoff spot for a short-lived experiment in July. Meaningful games call for more meaningful decisions.
"I think in the postseason, you got to be a little bit more reactive than the regular season," Roberts said. "When I netted out the value of what I feel gives us the best chance to win today, that was a decision I made."
Smith, who has been dealing with a hairline fracture in his right hand for nearly two months, started slow upon returning to the lineup during the NLDS but has since rounded into form. Since the beginning of the NLCS, the only Dodgers with an OPS higher than .800 are Ohtani (1.688), Freeman (.930) and Smith (.811).
The Dodgers have scored more than five runs just once since the NL Wild Card Series. That was in the instant-classic World Series Game 3 -- when they were held scoreless for 10 innings before Freeman walked it off in the 18th.
Naturally, the further the Dodgers have gotten into the postseason, the better the competition has become. But as Ohtani put bluntly the night before, this offense is capable of much more than what it has shown thus far.
"We're facing quality arms this time of the year against really good teams, and we're facing the best of the best, so I think it's not that easy," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "But at the same time, we could do at least the bare minimum to be able to put up some runs."