Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani surprised just about everyone when he took batting practice on the field before Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
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Ohtani never takes on-field batting practice, preferring to do his hitting work in the cage. However, he was mired in a slump through the NL Division Series and NLCS, and wanted to change things up.
After a 1-for-4 performance in NLCS Game 3, Ohtani had one of the best performances in postseason history in Game 4. He went 3-for-3 with three home runs while also throwing six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts.
On Thursday, a day before the World Series kicks off between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, Ohtani again was out on the field taking batting practice, this time at the Rogers Centre.
Ohtani was asked why he decided to again make that change as this goes against his usual routine, and Ohtani is a very routine-oriented person. He revealed some of the answer during Thursday’s media day.
“There’s some things that I want to be able to do on the field that you can only do on the field, so I want to do that and just make sure – especially considering how we just don’t have a lot of games left,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, Will Ireton.
When asked what those specific things were that he finds helpful, Ohtani had a cryptic response.
“That’s a secret,” he said.
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Whatever it is, it seemed to work for him in the NLCS, as Ohtani broke out of his mini slump in a big way. Now if Ohtani can carry that momentum into the World Series, the Dodgers will be very difficult to beat — especially if their starting pitching picks up where it left off.
Ohtani will get the first opportunity to get the Dodgers’ World Series started, as he’ll lead off Game 1 of the series that begins on Friday night. Ohtani will act as only a hitter for the first two games of the series, before pitching in either Game 3 or 4.
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