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With the Los Angeles Dodgers dropping to 0-2 in the NLCS to the Milwaukee Brewers, all eyes have been on the horrid slump that superstar Shohei Ohtani has been in. As the conversation around the Dodgers benching Ohtani continues, this former player would offer insight into why manager Dave Roberts would be justified in making the call.
On the “Dan Patrick Show,” three-time MLB all-star and now MLB Network analyst Sean Casey said the slump for Ohtani isn’t just a small sample size; it’s been the last month. He called Ohtani being benched “definitely an option.”
“We got a sprint going on now. I mean, in this series it’s the first of four,” Casey said. “So if I’m looking at this, I have to look at maybe guys that are hot or a guy that can maybe do a little better right now because the sample size is over a month now. It’s been almost 30 games where he’s hitting below .200 with no extra-base hits, no home runs. So it’s not like he’s just been scuffling this last week. It’s been almost a month, so I mean it’s definitely an option.”
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“When I look at Shohei’s swing, it just doesn’t look like Shohei. I mean, everything is literally going to the right.” — @TheMayorsOffice thinks the Dodgers could justify benching Shohei Ohtani pic.twitter.com/NOBgm1GiE1
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) October 13, 2026
More on the slump from Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani has had a relatively frustrating season, especially due to the injuries he’s racked up this year, as his hitting numbers have shown, hitting a .200 batting average in September and a .150 average in the postseason thus far. Casey would go into how Ohtani’s mechanics are off, but still saying that any hitter is “one pitch away” from coming back to life.
“This is as lost as I’ve ever seen Ohtani, and that’s why I wonder if he’s totally healthy. But the fact that he’s out there and Doc’s running him out there means that he’s doing well in BP and doing well with whatever they’re running them through, and it’s just a matter of getting that one big hit,” Casey said.
At any rate, it remains to be seen what happens with the Dodgers and Ohtani, and if he will be benched at some point, as Game 3 of the NLDS is on Wednesday.
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