The Los Angeles Dodgers must unleash all of their artillery in Game 5 of the World Series to defeat the New York Yankees on the road. They’ve been led all season by superstar designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, but his manager Dave Roberts hasn’t been pleased with his recent performance at the plate.
Ohtani is recovering from a left shoulder subluxation injury he suffered in Game 2 of the Fall Classic. He’s hitting.133/.278/.200 in the Dodgers’ first four games and appears to be a shell of himself. You read that correctly.
Since suffering the injury, the 30-year-old has one hit, one walk, two strikeouts, and one run scored to his credit. Surprisingly, the 50-50 club member has yet to steal a base in the World Series, let alone the whole postseason, and was spotted straining through discomfort by gripping his shoulder in Game 4.
His performance at the plate is suffering. Roberts believes he knows why, and it is not entirely related to his injury, as he explained to Matt Borelli of Dodgerblue.com:
“I believe it’s the chase. You see it. There are some big at-bats that could result in a walk, and not getting on base and chasing hasn’t been helpful.”
Ohtani can help the Dodgers close out the World Series by harkening to manager
Ohtani had a strong 26.6 percent chase percentage during the regular season, ranking him in the 61st percentile in the MLB, but Roberts believes his plate discipline is lacking. The Dodgers’ main playcaller wants his NL MVP favorite to draw more walks and let the game come to him.
Los Angeles has flourished thus far thanks to Freddie Freeman’s explosive bat, but if the four-time All-Star cleans up his repertoire in Game 5, he might provide Freeman and the rest of L.A.’s star-studded batting order with the push they need to silence the Yankees once and for all, even if he is injured.
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