ATLANTA — Manager Dave Roberts teased a major shift in the Dodgers’ lineup construction before their workout Monday. Then on Tuesday he put it into action:
Superstar Shohei Ohtani is batting fifth in the lineup against Braves ace Chris Sale in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
It’s the lowest Ohtani has ever hit in the Dodgers starting lineup. He hasn’t hit fifth or lower in a starting lineup since 2020 with the Angels.
For most of the season, through ups, downs and injuries, Ohtani has led off. When he returned from the injured list with five games left in the season, Roberts started batting him second against left-handed pitchers, with right-handed hitting Mookie Betts batting ahead of him.
But in eight postseason at-bats so far, Ohtani has recorded just two hits, both singles.
“He’s not 100 percent. But at the end of the day, he can still do a better job of staying in the strike zone,” Roberts said. “I don’t think that that has anything to do with — he had the five games. He had the at-bats in between. I think that’s something that — it’s hard to have success when you’re out of the zone.
“And Shohei understands, any hitter understands that. Then the question is how do we get him into it? I think there’s a little bit of trying to do too much. I think that’s a piece.”
Roberts acknowledged that he’d be open to moving Ohtani down in the lineup but would have the conversation with the player first.
“Everything orbits around Shohei in the sense of his talent,” Roberts said. “And the Braves are going to enter with caution. And, so, knowing that, they’re going to continue to expand as long as we keep giving that to them. So until we show some discipline, they’re going to continue to kind of use that playbook.”
The last time the Dodgers faced Sale, he shut them out for nine innings.
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