Dodgers and Blue Jays talk about what makes Shohei Ohtani a special player
USA TODAY Sports interviewed members of the Dodgers and Blue Jays ahead of the World Series to discuss Shohi Ohtani’s unique talent.
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LOS ANGELES — This was the game the Los Angeles Dodgers had been coveting.
This was the night Shohei Ohtani donned the Superman mantle, pitched a no-hitter, hit four home runs, and pushed the Dodgers to the brink of winning the World Series for the second straight year.
There was no doubt in their minds that Ohtani would put on a show at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, even though he was exhausted after a record-setting performance in 18 games.
In fact, he looked, well, rather mortal.
“Every time he steps up, we expect great things to happen,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Maybe it’s not fair.”
Ohtani pitched six strong innings before falling apart.
He was never given an intentional walk, but he also never hit a ball in or out.
Then, when Ohtani went down, the Dodgers lost 6-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays, ending the World Series with 2 wins and 2 losses.
This loss, while heartbreaking, could be cathartic for the Dodgers.
Dodgers relief pitcher Blake Treinen leaned against his locker, looked around in the silent Dodgers clubhouse, and wondered aloud if their loss could be a blessing.
Sure, no one wants to lose a match. It’s the World Series.
But Treinen believes this loss could be a wake-up call and is just what the Dodgers need to improve their chances of becoming the first team in 25 years to repeat the World Series.
“I think all of us here are very talented. It’s good to have a game like this,” Treinen quietly told USA TODAY Sports. “It would be nice to have one game where everything went well. I think we’ve been playing really good team baseball, but we just need one game where the offense just went crazy.
“I think our pitching was pretty good even though we gave up six runs today. But we just haven’t had a great overall great game yet.”
The cold reality is that the Dodgers’ offense has struggled this postseason since the wild-card series against Cincinnati.
He was the only one to score five or more runs in the other 12 postseason games, and it took him 18 innings to accomplish the feat.
Their pitching carried them through the entire postseason, and Shohei Ohtani camouflaged their shortcomings.
The Dodgers have scored just 45 points since the wild-card round, averaging 3.7 points per game. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, scored 94 points, nearly twice as many.
Since the National League District Series, he’s batting just .220, in the World Series he’s hitting .214, and with runners in scoring position he’s hitting .183. On Tuesday, they recorded just six hits, and only one of them was an extra-base hit.
“I wouldn’t say it was great,” said Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who hit his only extra-base double in the ninth inning. “We’re missing out on a lot of opportunities, myself included. I’m one of the big culprits. There are some opportunities we had and we didn’t take advantage of them.
“You have to hit it big.”
The only position player with the Dodgers who has had a great postseason is Ohtani, who has eight home runs and a 1.182 OPS.
And when he can’t hit, the Dodgers can’t win.
“We haven’t found our rhythm yet,” Roberts said. “We’re not like that. Certain parts of the lineup, different parts, different innings, different games, it’s kind of a draw. The players are competing. Certainly, in the postseason, you see the best in everyone.”
“But yeah, we hope to reconvene (Wednesday).”
The Dodgers may be planning to deploy a different batting lineup to shake up their sluggish offensive line.
“I agree,” Roberts said. “If you think about it, it might turn out a little differently.”
The Dodgers are still pretty confident. They know they are the most talented team in baseball. Even if they can’t hit, they can certainly pitch, with co-aces Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto scheduled to play in the next two games.
Additionally, Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts kept reminding everyone around his locker that the Blue Jays are in the World Series for a reason. They even won more regular season games than the Dodgers. So there’s no shame in being tied with them, even if they were hoping to win their first World Series title since 1963 at Dodger Stadium.
“That’s why we play seven games,” Betts said. “They’re not lucky to be in the World Series. They’re a really good ball club.”
But when he runs out of gas, relying on Ohtani night after night, it’s time for someone else to step up and be the hero.
“I mean, I’d like to score 10 points every game, but that’s not going to happen,” Betts said. “We would love to go. We just have to play our game.”
No one used sleep deprivation as an excuse for aggressive fighting. Indeed, not a single person fell asleep before 1:30 a.m. after an 18-inning, six-and-a-half-hour game. But no one on the Blue Jays did that.
“Honestly, I was sleeping like a baby,” said Guerrero, who hit a two-run home run off Ohtani in the second inning.
In fact, Otani is probably the only one who can legitimately use fatigue as an excuse. On Monday, he reached a World Series record of nine consecutive innings with two doubles and two home runs, and on Tuesday he took the mound in the World Series as the first player to serve as the starting DH and pitcher in the same game.
Yes, Ohtani felt very good and very fresh. When Roberts asked if he was tired after six innings, Ohtani tried to convince him he could go to the ninth inning.
Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement said, “He looked like a pretty nasty guy to me.” “He had a few good swings with just a few mistakes. But his stuff was really, really good.”
If Roberts had to do it all over again, he would have pulled Ohtani after the sixth inning, but he easily went through a 1-2-3 inning and looked as good as he did all night when he took the mound down 2-1 in the seventh. After Dalton Varsho hit first and Ernie Clement hit a double, he watched from the bench as the Blue Jays exploded for four runs, and it all came to an end.
“I thought the sixth inning was one of his best innings,” Roberts said. “And I saw his position, the way the ball came out, and I felt good. It just kind of happened there.”
Ohtani, who pitched much better than his line score suggested with six innings, six hits, four runs, one walk and six strikeouts, said he felt in command all night. The Blue Jays beat him with all their might, including Guerrero jumping on a sweeper.
“Looking back on it now, it was just an unfortunate pitch. I wanted to get it back. It was just a bad spot,” Ohtani said.
He was also angry at himself for not being able to pitch seven innings while trying to protect them with a particularly fatigued bullpen.
Ohtani said, “Whether it’s the regular season or the postseason, my goal is to pitch six innings. I would have liked to pitch seven innings in this situation, but it’s unfortunate that I couldn’t finish that inning.”
In fact, the biggest surprise may be the way Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber and the bullpen shut him down.
“He’s destined to die,” Roberts said. “Obviously, there was a lot of energy in the pitching. But they pitched well. They had some backdoor cutters and the breaking balls crowded him up a little bit. And I thought his intent tonight at the plate was good. But when you look back at those at-bats, they pitched him well. It really was.”
The Dodgers play Game 5 on Wednesday and believe they will be fine. Their offensive line can’t afford to sit idle all postseason. It has to be picked up.
And Ohtani predicts that will happen.
“At this time of year, we’re playing against quality teams, and we’re playing against the best of the best, so I don’t think it’s going to be that easy,” Ohtani said.
“But at the same time, we did the bare minimum to at least concede a goal.”
Time is running out, and as they found out on Tuesday, there are nights when Ohtani cannot save them.
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