The Los Angeles Dodgers were recently shut out by the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates, a sign that something is wrong in LA. Sure, they were up against Paul Skenes, but the Dodgers have now lost three in a row and four of their last five. Their record sits at 16-10, but that is far from good enough to be in first place. The Dodgers are in the midst of a series against the Pirates, Marlins, Braves, and Marlins again, all of which are .500 or below.
If there’s a time for the Dodgers to get back to their winning ways, it’s now. Los Angeles has one of the most loaded rosters in all of baseball, but their star players are not living up to the massive contracts they signed. Only one player is hitting above .300, with the next closest hitting .269. With Muncy hitting .171, Conforto hitting .187, and both Betts and Ohtani at .241 and .250, respectively, this Dodgers team needs all the help it can get.
“He’s human,” Mookie Betts says in regard to Shohei Ohtani.
With 96 at-bats, only Tommy Edman has more for the Dodgers. Ohtani is hitting three percentage points less than Edman, a player that leads the team in WAR (1.1) with Will Smith. Smith has just over 30 less at-bats than Ohtani, but he’s hitting .328 with an OPS of .962. Ohtani’s five stolen bases lead the team by a wide margin (the rest of the team has six combined), but it’s been getting on base that has been a problem.
Sure, Ohtani and Conforto lead the team with 14 walks each, but even Ohtani’s .345 OBP is well down from previous seasons. His slugging is .469 in 2025, an incredible decrease from the .654 and .646 he’s put up in his last two years. Betts mentioned, “He’s one of those people that may go through a stretch, but we’ve all seen the other side of it.”
For Ohtani, the grass certainly is greener on the other side. When hot, he’s one of the best hitters, if not the best, in all of baseball. He’s still not pitching, meaning all of his focus is behind the plate. Coming up empty on numerous clutch at-bats in the past few games, Betts knows, “Tomorrow, he can hit four homers.” On any given day Ohtani can work his way out of this slump; Dodgers fans just need to be patient.
It’s rather alarming that Ohtani has six home runs, which account for just eight runs batted in. Those 8 RBIs are a steep decrease from the 130 he drove in last season. Obviously, the season is still in the early stages. There is a ton of time for Ohtani to come out of this slump, but with most of the Dodgers team struggling individually, it raises the question as to when the World Series Champions will be able to put everything together.