SAN FRANCISCO -- Five games do not tell the story of Shohei Ohtani's year, but that season-ending sample holds a fair amount of weight as the Dodgers evaluate which version of their superstar they will get in the postseason.
Ohtani knocked a base hit in three at-bats as the Dodgers closed the book on their regular season with a 5-1 win in 10 innings over the Giants on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park. L.A. has won 100 games for the sixth time under manager Dave Roberts, who joins Hall of Famers Bobby Cox and Joe McCarthy as the only managers to accomplish the feat.
The most meaningful games of the year are just around the corner for the back-to-back World Series champions, whose title defense picks up when the NL Division Series begins next Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
As the Dodgers bid for a three-peat, which would be the first in the Majors since the 1998-2000 Yankees, they are counting on Ohtani to set the tone for their offense as he has consistently done in his three seasons in L.A. But in the five games after his 15-day injured list stint due to lingering right biceps and left knee injuries, Ohtani did not show much at the plate, hitting 5-for-21 (.238) with eight strikeouts against one walk.
Overall, Ohtani finished the regular season hitting .275 with an .889 OPS and 30 homers -- which all came before he went on the IL. His run of consecutive MVP seasons is set to end after three years, as the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong has seemingly run away with the award.
Before Sunday's finale, Roberts described Ohtani's recent performance as showing rust rather than being a legitimate concern heading into the postseason. The Dodgers believe Ohtani feels as good physically as he has in some time, and they don't think his swing looks compromised, as it did before he went on the IL.
"Certainly, the results aren't there, which I'm not blind to right now," Roberts said.
The postseason is a new beginning. Ohtani will have the bye week to rest up and take live at-bats, and starting on Saturday, the Dodgers are hopeful that he will swing the bat more like his usual self. But they won't know exactly what they have in their superstar until they see him under the lights.