How far can Shohei Ohtani take the Dodgers if other stars are stifled?

Shohei Ohtani held a bat in his left hand and bounced on the balls of his feet, his pony bouncing as he took in the scene around him. He had stood in the home dugout at Dodger Stadium eight months earlier, days before he signed a $700 million contract, looking at empty seats and endless possibilities. Now the stadium was full and 53,028 fans were wondering what Ohtani would do in his postseason debut.

The smoke from the pregame fireworks still hung over the outfield as the Dodgers gathered around the diamond. Ohtani doesn’t play on the field, but his mere presence gives a sense of security to those who do. His teammate Kiké Hernández put an arm around Ohtani’s shoulder and spoke in his ear so Ohtani could hear him over the noise.

“Lead us,” Hernández told Ohtani, “just as you led Japan in the WBC.”

Ohtani grinned and nodded. Winning a championship for Samurai Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic was once the greatest achievement of his professional life. He joined the Dodgers because the franchise offered a path to a higher pinnacle, the Major League Baseball postseason, with the World Series as the ultimate prize. If these early October days are any indication, the team appears to be just as dependent on him.

Shohei Ohtani has a flair for facing any situation. “It’s like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordans…” says his manager. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Can one player lead a team to a championship? The Dodgers might be forced to find out. The team can only go as far as they can take them. Ohtani’s three-run blitz in a Game 1 win of the National League Division Series over the San Diego Padres erased an early deficit and roused his team. A day later, he went scoreless in a loss to San Diego. In a lackluster performance from the Dodgers lineup, Ohtani managed just one hit in Game 2 with runners on base.

With that series moving to Petco Park for Game 3 on Tuesday, Ohtani will face even more pressure. The pitching matchups favor San Diego. Neither of the other two MVPs in the Dodgers lineup are performing at a high level. Freddie Freeman left midway through Game 2 due to discomfort with his sprained ankle. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wasn’t sure if Freeman could play in Game 3. Mookie Betts hasn’t recorded a postseason hit since Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS, and Roberts openly wondered Monday whether the $365 million outfielder was still affected by the residue of the previous postseason failure.

“I can see it, I don’t know if it’s fear or the pressure of previous performances lingering,” Roberts said. “That’s something I don’t want.”

Roberts said the team hasn’t discussed changing the lineup to have Betts lead off and Ohtani bat second. Like Ohtani, Betts prefers to be at the top of the lineup. Ohtani replaced Betts as leadoff hitter when Betts suffered a broken hand in June. The Dodgers stuck with the deal as Ohtani’s baserunning skills blossomed.

The first two games of this series demonstrated both Ohtani’s flair for the dramatic and his team’s trust in him taking the stage. For the Dodgers, he has become a figure worthy of divine recognition. When Ohtani came to the plate in the fourth inning of Game 1, Dodger Stadium organist Dieter Ruehle pounded the keys “Personal Jesus.” Given Ohtani’s performance in the final weeks of the season, the Dodgers looked like they didn’t need any help from above. All they needed was Ohtani.

“It’s like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordans…” Roberts said. “You go there to watch him. And then, at the greatest moment…”

There were only so many examples in the second half, like when Ohtani hit a walk-off grand slam to reach the club of players with 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases, or when he hit his bobblehead a few days later. hit a home run night or delivered three home runs and stole two. A few weeks later, the bases are on their way to the first-ever 50-50 baseball season.

In September, Roberts considered meeting with Ohtani to discuss his approach to the postseason. At times during the season, Dodgers officials noticed Ohtani chasing pitches outside the zone while batting with runners in scoring position. Roberts feared that his opponents would take advantage of Ohtani’s zeal. Then, as the Dodgers faced a late charge at the division lead from San Diego in the final two weeks of the season, Roberts watched Ohtani hit .547 with seven homers and 22 RBIs. No conversation was necessary, the manager decided. He expected Ohtani to thrive on this stage, a stage the player had dreamed of since childhood.

Ohtani was not alone in these dreams. Before the series a reporter from The athlete asked AJ Preller, the Padres’ president of baseball operations, if he felt guilty about angering the countless baseball fans who wanted to see Ohtani in the postseason after so many losing seasons with the Angels. (Jurickson Profar isn’t the only one trolling here.) Preller shrugged and smiled. “Uhhh, no,” he said. Two days later, after Ohtani’s heroics in Game 1, Preller spotted the reporter. “Hey, to answer your question, no, I’m not looking forward to facing Ohtani in the playoffs,” he said.

As San Diego officials considered how to mitigate Ohtani, they pointed to the importance of silencing hitters at the bottom of the Dodgers lineup. If Ohtani took his at-bats with the bases empty, the Padres’ pitchers could challenge him without fear of undue consequences. Padres manager Mike Schildt liked that idea. “I like the competition,” Sheldt said last week.

In the second inning of Game 1, after a leadoff walk by catcher Will Smith and a single by second baseman Gavin Lux created an opening, Ohtani singled to lead off Padres starter Dylan Cease with two outs. “When we’re on base, it just creates more stress than it already does when we face Shohei,” Lux said. “With no one on base, it’s already stressful.” Cease threw a 96.9 mph fastball per hour to the top of the zone. Ohtani sent it screaming over the right field fence. He hollered himself as he rounded the bases.

The thing got all the attention after the game for obvious reasons. However, a day later, Roberts was previously focused on batting when No. 9 batsman Miguel Rojas popped up as he attempted to hit a shot out of the opponent’s field. “If he had tried to chase slug or do a little more damage,” Roberts said, “that ball would have been a double play with the ground ball.” Instead, Rojas kept the inning alive for Ohtani.

In Game 2, Padres starter Yu Darvish avoided the moment by finding Ohtani, who went hitless in four at-bats. Michael King planned to ask Darvish for some tips on how to deceive Ohtani. He planned to attack Ohtani rather than bypass him.

“Ohtani is probably the best in the game,” King said Monday. “But there is this competitive factor. And they still have Mookie and Freddie and Teoscar (Hernández) behind them.”

Unless, of course, they don’t. Before this postseason, the Dodgers knew Ohtani might have to carry them. How far this can still be will perhaps only become clear this week.

(Top photo by Shohei Ohtani: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)