by Cary Osborne
The new mystery that surrounds Shohei Ohtani is how he will perform in his first Major League postseason.
The most talented hitter on the field, as manager Dave Roberts described him on Friday, was at one point this season trying to find himself.
After six seasons in Anaheim with the Angels, Ohtani was a little unsure in his beginning days as a Dodger in 2024. But his ability to get past the pressure says a lot about how he will handle the new stress that October presents.
“In the beginning of the season, I think I had a very strong desire to fit in with the team as soon as possible. And I think that was kind of leaking into my at-bats,” Ohtani said. “As the season progressed and as we got into the second half, I felt like I had more of my at-bats.”
The results speak for themselves.
Ohtani was one of baseball’s best pressure players in the second half of the season.
· He batted .364 with runners in scoring position and drove in a Major League-high 38 runners in the situation.
· He batted .378 with seven home runs from the eighth inning on.
· He batted .352 with eight home runs with two outs.
So when asked on Friday if he was nervous about the postseason, the question barely ended before he responded in English: “Nope.”
“If there’s any person I feel that’s going to be able to handle this it’s certainly Shohei,” said manager Dave Roberts.
Ohtani won the 2016 Japan Series championship in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. His biggest championship moment stateside is striking out Mike Trout in the 2023 World Baseball Classic final to give Japan the championship.
But after 860 regular season games, Saturday will be his first time playing in a Major League postseason. He might have tried to do a little too much in his first days as a Dodger, but there is trust that he is past that.
“I think that he understands the talent behind him,” Roberts said. “He can’t do it all on his own. He’s just got to continue to take good at-bats and play the game to win. And if he does that, then it’s up to all of us.”
Ohtani famously gave a pregame speech before the World Baseball Classic final to his Japan teammates telling them to stop admiring Team USA. Then he went out and created one of the legendary moments of his career.
The stage is set for more.
“It’s always been my childhood dream to be able to be in an important situation, to play in important games,” Ohtani said. “So I think the excitement of that is greater than anything else that I could possibly feel.”
NLDS: Shohei Ohtani has time and again shown he can handle the heat was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.