Although the Los Angeles Dodgers hold a 3-0 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, they still have a good amount of room for improvement.
The Dodgers have been carried by starting pitching, and while their offense has gotten the job done on most nights, they’ve failed to put any games out of reach.
With runners in scoring position, Dodgers hitters have gone just 5-for-27 through the first three NLCS games against the Brewers. That’s after going 5-for-29 in such situations during four NL Division Series games against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Dodgers were 8-for-26 (.308) in two Wild Card games against the Cincinnati Reds, but since then are hitting just .179 with runners in scoring position over 56 at-bats.
“I wouldn’t say concern, but we’ve got to be better,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his team’s win in Game 3. “I think you’re always trying to figure out how you can improve as a ballclub. I do think that Tommy’s at-bat was huge with runner in scoring position.
“I thought Freddie’s at-bat to get him up, was a huge at-bat. But, yeah, the situational, we can be better at that for sure. We’ve got to be better.”
During the regular season, the Dodgers ranked third overall in batting average with RISP after hitting .278, while their 126 wRC+ and .838 on-base plus slugging percentage were both first in MLB.
Due to their sustained success over the season, it’s fair to bet on the Dodgers to turn things around and be better. However, their struggles can also be related to the difficult pitching they’ve faced, and slumps from a few of their best hitters.
Shohei Ohtani (.158 batting average, .641 on-base plus slugging percentage), Freddie Freeman (.229, .770), Andy Pages (.094, .272) and Will Smith (.250, .607) have not played up to expectations. But without them producing, Kiké Hernández, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman have all stepped up to help carry the offense.
If the Dodgers can get one or two of those hitters back on track, and specifically Ohtani, their offense can be very dangerous once again. But until that happens, they’ll need to keep relying on their elite pitching staff.
Pat Murphy still concerned with Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani has not fared well against left-handed pitching in the postseason, and that’s something Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy is trying to take advantage of. Though, Murphy also doesn’t view Ohtani as being in a slump.
“I think most people struggle against (Cristopher) Sánchez, (Jesús) Luzardo and (Ranger) Suárez,” Murphy began. “Those guys are really, really good. So I don’t consider Ohtani struggling. I don’t.
“It’s baseball. You can go through 30 at-bats or 50 at-bats and not put up the same numbers and maybe be hitting the ball hard or whatever. But I don’t have Ohtani struggling. But I want to throw lefties against him whenever we can. It’s always harder for a lot of those lefties to face lefties that are throwing 95 (mph) and above, and sinkers into them.”
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