Shohei Ohtani could make history in NLCS Game 4 versus the Brewers

Shohei Ohtani did almost nothing in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers could make their way to the World Series on Friday, with Ohtani a footnote in the NLCS story, but the best player in baseball has a flair for drama.

Bring on the latest Babe Ruth comparison!

The modern two-way baseball star can do something on Friday that the original two-way baseball star never did.

Ruth started three postseason games as a pitcher, and did not hit a home run in those games. Ohtani starts his second postseason game as a pitcher on Friday, looking for his first postseason home run as a pitcher.

He can hit a home run and be the winning pitcher on Friday, so why not?

“I feel like Shuhei is a phenomenal character,” Dodgers outfielder Miguel Rojas said.

In the Division Series, Ohtani had one hit in 18 at-bats, with nine strikeouts. After the Dodgers’ clincher, this was catcher Will Smith: “He didn’t do much this series. I expect him to come out next series and hit like five homers. That’s what it is.”

In the series, Ohtani had two hits in 11 at-bats, with five strikeouts. Over the NLDS and NLCS, he is batting .103 with no home runs, and he has struck out in 48% of his at-bats.

He did not hit five home runs in this series, as Smith had optimistically predicted.

“I hope he does it tomorrow,” Smith said Thursday.

If a player had a rough week or two in June and changed his routine, you might hear about it for a few minutes on the pregame show. Ohtani had a tough week or two in October and decided to take batting practice on the field instead of indoor cages on Wednesday, and it became global breaking news.

Not just for the fans, those who made his jersey the best-selling in baseball and are set to flock to Grand opening of Tokyo pop-up exhibition Friday, featuring vinyl albums that pay tribute to the songs and anthems of Ohtani and other major league stars.

Ohtani’s teammates came out to watch a rare outdoor batting practice. The sound guys added an extra dose of Michael Bublé. Because it was Ohtani, he hit the ball off the roof of the right field wing.

So, no, the Dodgers aren’t worried. And no, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isn’t about to move Ohtani down in the lineup.

“It’s clear that Shohei is not performing the way he wants or we expect,” Roberts said. “But I just know how big a role he has in this thing.

“We have a long way to go. But I love the work he’s doing. I’ll bet on him all day long.”

As for Ohtani’s shooting, the layup has been his kryptonite this season. In his 15 starts, including those in the NLDS, he was batting .207, and he struck out 43% of his batters.

“I don’t necessarily think the pitching affected my hitting performance,” Ohtani said Wednesday. “Just on the pitching side, as long as I control what I can control, I feel good about getting results. On the hitting side, just attitude, mechanics, that’s something I do. It’s a constant work in progress.”

There was some lead on Thursday, when Ohtani tripled to lead off the first inning. On the next pitch, Mookie Betts doubled him home.

“It’s like the Bulls playing without Michael Jordan sometimes,” Betts told TBS after the game. “So we pushed him forward and then he’s going to be really hard to beat. You see what happens right away. Once he gets a hit, good things happen. But he’ll be there.”

“He will be there when the time is right. We all trust and believe in Shuhei.”

Before the NLCS, Roberts was vocal about Ohtani’s offensive struggles.

“We’re not going to win the World Series with that kind of performance,” Roberts said.

That kind of performance continued, and the Dodgers have been undefeated since. That makes it easy to believe in Ohtani, and what he might offer on Friday.

“I expect nothing less than amazing,” midfielder Max Muncy said.

“Overall, I expect Shohei to have a great game, and anything he does offensively is just kind of the icing on the cake at that point. It’s hard to pitch and hit in the same game, especially in a postseason game. He’ll be fine.”

The Roth comparison goes even further. When he pitched in the postseason, he was primarily a pitcher, batting ninth twice. It was made 145 pitches in his first postseason starta complete game victory by 14 innings.

And that’s all we can say Ohtani won’t do. The Dodgers are so deep that despite Roberts’ fear, they can win the World Series with Ohtani on the back foot. They did that last year, in fact.

However, with one strong swing, Friday’s story could be less about what he didn’t do and more about what Ruth couldn’t do. Champagne showers in the forecast.