Shohei Ohtani’s no good, very bad playoffs: Inside the stats behind Dodgers star's postseason slump originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
When Shohei Ohtani joined the Dodgers as a free agent, it finally afforded him an opportunity to play on baseball's biggest stage — and in the grand scheme of things, he's shone in the postseason.
Ohtani won a World Series title in each of his first two years as a Dodger after years of playoff shortcomings with the Angels. He's had multi-homer postseason games, including in the Fall Classic, and struck out 28 hitters on the mound in the Dodgers' 2025 run alone.
But in the 2026 postseason, as he's been playing through injury issues, Ohtani went through a massive slump, and it's not the first time he's gone cold in October.
Here's a look at Ohtani's 2026 postseason struggles and how they compare to his overall playoff numbers.
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Shohei Ohtani 2026 playoff stats
- Hits-At Bats: 5-26
- Runs: 3
- Doubles: 0
- HRs: 1
- RBIs: 3
- Walks: 4
- Strikeouts: 10
- Batting Average: .192
- OBP: .313
- SLG: .308
- OPS: .630
The Dodgers advanced past the Braves in the NLDS more in spite of Ohtani's performance than because of him.
He went just 2-for-13 against Atlanta in the four-game series, failing to drive in a run. As he dealt with injury issues to end the 2026 regular season, Ohtani last hit a home run in mid-August, driving home just one run in a span lasting until NLCS Game 4 in mid-October.
It represented perhaps the worst cold stretch of Ohtani's career — one bad enough that the Dodgers reportedly discussed benching him through his injury issues.
Nonetheless, Ohtani stayed in the lineup, and he responded to his slump by finally hitting one out of the ballpark against Milwaukee in Game 4:
SHOHEI OHTANI HOME RUN https://t.co/HSlZDqSDNj
— MLB (@MLB) October 16, 2026
Still, his overall 2026 postseason numbers weren't pretty, hitting below the Mendoza line and struggling to put good swings on the ball.
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Shohei Ohtani career playoff stats
- Hits-At Bats: 37-155
- Runs: 30
- Doubles: 4
- Triples: 1
- HRs: 12
- RBIs: 27
- Walks: 33
- Strikeouts: 55
- Batting Average: .239
Ohtani's overall numbers in the postseason don't quite match his regular-season dominance. But even through a few cold stretches, he's still been elite at the dish — especially in brief stretches.
A lot of the heavy lifting in Ohtani's postseason numbers is done by two games: 2025 NLCS Game 4 and 2025 World Series Game 3. Over those two games combined, he hit .875 with five home runs and six RBIs.
Entering 2026 NLCS Game 4, over the rest of Ohtani's postseason games, he was hitting under .200 with six home runs and 18 RBIs.
Shohei Ohtani's entire playoff career is propped up by 2 games (H/T @yankeesvision) https://t.co/oLvhyRQJKq
— Onyx Odds (@OnyxOdds) October 13, 2026
Ohtani's power has translated to the postseason well, but as a hitter, he's been streaky on the big stage otherwise.
As a two-time champion, his up-and-down offensive production in the postseason didn't matter much in 2024 and 2025 — but it certainly correlated with the Dodgers' NLCS exit in 2026.
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