The Los Angeles Dodgers have a winning record and a top-two spot among baseball’s most competitive division, but there’s some cause for concern.
With the largest total payroll in Major League Baseball and one of the greatest rosters ever assembled in the history of the sport, anything less than a juggernaut winning streak raises eyebrows. And the Dodgers have now been swept by the Chicago Cubs as their best player struggles.
Two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani routinely posts otherworldly numbers, but he’s off to a decidedly mortal .261/.358/.489 start so far in 2025. After a break on the paternity list, Ohtani returned to the team with that slow start growing into a legitimate concern.
“After Ohtani quietly slumped through the last couple of weeks, now his opening-month struggles suddenly are much more pronounced,” Jack Harris wrote for the Los Angeles Times. “…he was just one for his previous 10 since returning from the birth of his daughter last weekend, and has been generally scuffling since the opening homestand.”
Ohtani appears to be overswinging at pitches outside of the strike zone and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noted that he could be “trying too hard” to make contact when he might be better served taking a walk.
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Ohtani hasn’t addressed the media since returning from the paternity list, but his superstar teammate Mookie Betts answered a question about his concerning slump with a clear two-word retort:
“He’s human,” Betts said, per Harris.
“I think we’re all so accustomed to him never doing anything bad,” Betts added. “He’s one of those people that may go through a stretch, but we’ve all seen the other side of it.”
While Ohtani’s slump has been a key factor in the Dodgers’ larger struggles, the team seems confident he could turn it around in emphatic fashion at any moment. But, until then, we’ll have to remember that the best player in baseball is still human.
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