Shohei Ohtani has gone to the plate 86 times and come away batting .163, with zero home runs, 1 RBI, and 32 strikeouts. It’s the worst offensive stretch of his 2026 season, and it’s happening right now — in the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves. The Los Angeles Dodgers won Game 3 on Tuesday 3-1 anyway and sit one win away from the NLCS.
How Bad Is the Slump, Really?
@CodifyBaseball put the numbers out plainly: .163 average, no home runs, 1 RBI in his last 86 plate appearances — a window that covers the end of the regular season and all three games of this NLDS.
To understand the scale of the drop, look at where he started. From April through the All-Star break, Ohtani hit .293 with a .953 OPS and 22 home runs in 88 games. In the second half, that OPS fell to .772 with just 8 home runs. His last homer came on August 18 at Coors Field — more than 20 games before the playoffs even started.
Part of the explanation is September. Ohtani spent time on the IL with left knee inflammation and right biceps tightness, leaving him just 8 games and 36 at-bats heading into October. He arrived at the postseason short on rhythm and short on reps.
Roberts Drops Him in the Order — Ohtani Still Isn’t Showing Up
Through the first three games against Atlanta, Ohtani is 2-for-10 with 3 strikeouts and no extra-base hits. Two singles. Nothing that makes a Braves pitcher nervous.
For Game 3, manager Dave Roberts dropped him to the fifth spot in the lineup — the lowest he’s batted since September 23, 2020, when he was still an Angel. The reason was straightforward: left-hander Chris Sale was starting, and Ohtani carried a 3-for-15 lifetime line with 5 strikeouts against him.
But the number that raises more concern than the average is his chase rate: it’s up to 42.9% this postseason, nearly 13 points above the 30% he held during the regular season. He’s chasing pitches out of the zone that he used to let go. That’s the real signal — something is off, mechanically or mentally.
Roberts clarified after Game 3 that the move to fifth was matchup-specific for Sale, not a permanent demotion. If the Dodgers advance to Game 4 — they lead the series 2-1 — Ohtani is likely moving back up.
Why the Dodgers Keep Winning — and Why Ohtani Can Turn It Around
Los Angeles is a win away from the NLCS precisely because the rest of the roster has stepped up when Ohtani hasn’t. They won Game 3 by 3-1 without a meaningful contribution from their star DH.
Dodgers fans also have a recent precedent to lean on: in the 2025 postseason, Ohtani went 3-for-29 (.103) with 14 strikeouts in his first seven games of the NLDS and NLCS combined. He ended up winning NLCS MVP. The cold start wasn’t the story — it was the prologue.
The real question isn’t whether Ohtani can get out of this. His 6.5 WAR this season — meaning more than six wins above what a replacement-level player would provide — and his Statcast profile say he absolutely can. The question is whether he can do it before the Dodgers actually need him to be the difference-maker.
Ohtani’s Full 2026 Numbers
At the plate (618 plate appearances):
- 30 home runs, 81 RBI
- AVG: .275 | OPS: .889
- xwOBA: .397 (98th percentile in MLB)
- Exit velocity: 93.3 mph avg (97th percentile)
- Barrel rate: 16.4% (99th percentile)
- Hard-hit rate: 52.1% (95th percentile)
- Bat speed: 74.7 mph avg (80th percentile)
On the mound (14 starts, 85.2 innings):
- ERA: 1.79 | WHIP: 0.95
- 95 strikeouts, 26 walks (27.9% K rate)
- xERA: 2.74 (95th percentile)
- Fastball: 97.8 mph avg, 2,459 rpm spin
- Whiff rate: 30.4% (85th percentile)
- Opponents batting .180 against him
- Exit velocity allowed: 87.4 mph | Barrel rate allowed: 3.8% (95th percentile)
