This isn’t how the Dodgers expected to be returning to Los Angeles.
The Brewers, a team with a payroll less than half of L.A.'s, have a 2–0 lead after the opening chapter of the National League Championship Series. Despite their collection of high-priced superstars, the Dodgers have been schooled by the scrappy Brewers through 18 innings.
No one has embodied Los Angeles’s struggles more than Shohei Ohtani. The four-time MVP and face of the Dodgers’ star-studded roster has been largely invisible through the first two games of the series. A player capable of taking over a postseason game has instead become a symbol of everything going wrong for L.A.
In a 7–4 loss on Monday night, Ohtani was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, leaving him 1-for-7 with three strikeouts through the first two games of the NLCS.
Through six postseason games, Ohtani has managed just three hits in 20 at-bats, none for extra bases. He’s slashing .150/.261/.150 with seven strikeouts against three walks.
Ohtani hasn't homered since Aug. 18 at Colorado, a stretch of 24 games. After landing on the IL in early September with lingering knee and biceps injuries, he finished the regular season in a prolonged slump. In his final 18 games, he slashed .157/.289/.214 with three extra-base hits, 29 strikeouts and a wRC+ of 51. It's a stunning collapse for a player who has terrorized opposing pitchers for most of the past decade.
He looks nothing like the player who dominated last October, particularly against these Brewers.
On Oct. 17, 2025, Ohtani turned in possibly the greatest postseason performance of all time. He started on the mound that night as the Dodgers held a 3–0 series lead on Milwaukee. He threw six shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out 10 Brewers. At the plate, he went 3-for-3, with three solo home runs and a walk. Los Angeles won 5–1 and moved on to the World Series.
Ohtani continued hammering baseballs against the Blue Jays in the Fall Classic. He racked up nine hits, including three home runs, as the Dodgers topped Toronto in seven games. In 17 total playoff games last season, Ohtani slashed .265/.405/.691 with eight home runs, 14 RBIs and 16 walks against 23 strikeouts.
The Dodgers desperately need that version of Ohtani to reappear.
L.A. has a lineup that should be capable of overcoming a slump from one of its superstars, but that hasn’t happened against the Brewers. Through the first two games, the Dodgers are slashing .169/.261/.186, and baseball’s second-best slugging team during the regular season has managed just one extra-base hit in the series. Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández are the only players who have multiple hits, and the team has scored just five runs in the two games.
The Brewers have had something to do with L.A.’s power outage. Milwaukee’s bullpen has been phenomenal through the first two games of the series, picking up the slack after short outings from its top two starters. Brewers relievers have combined to throw 9 ⅔ shutout innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out 15. In Game 2, a parade of four pitchers combined for an MLB postseason-record five perfect innings with seven strikeouts.
The Dodgers are heading home with a ton of questions to answer. A franchise that isn’t used to being on its back foot suddenly finds itself fighting to save a season that was supposed to end in another championship.
A year ago, Shohei Ohtani sent the Brewers home. Now Milwaukee is two games away from returning the favor.
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