Ohtani has been, for the lack of a better term, a black hole in the Dodgers’ lineup in the postseason thus far. The Dodgers keep on penciling him into the leadoff spot, but Ohtani has struggled to the tune of just five hits in 34 at-bats. He at least has six walks, but that has barely made his overall hitting stat line better: a slash line of .147/.275/.324, for an OPS of .599.

In fact, since the NLDS, the Dodgers star hasn’t been very star-like; he’s gone 2-25 with 12 strikeouts since Game 1 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies, with one of those hits coming in their Game 2 win over the Brewers in the NLCS.

Desperate to jolt himself out of this slump, Ohtani made a huge change to his routine. As Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reported, Ohtani decided to take batting practice on the field — something he has never done in the past.

The old adage goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Not taking batting practice on the field has worked for the Dodgers star in the past. But now that he’s mired in one of the most brutal slumps of his career, it was definitely time for a change.

The good news is that Game 3 of the NLCS will be at home, so Ohtani should be very comfortable, especially when he got batting reps to get used even more to the background at Dodger Stadium.

Dodgers are sitting comfortably despite Shohei Ohtani’s slump

As a testament to the Dodgers’ unprecedented depth, they are still sitting comfortably with a 2-0 lead over the Brewers in the NLCS even though Ohtani has been as close to AWOL as it can get.

Some have wondered whether or not Ohtani’s playoff starts on the mound are taking a toll on his ability to contribute at the plate. Perhaps Ohtani is simply reaching uncharted territory when it comes to workload, as he hasn’t been a two-way player this deep into a season in the past.

Regardless, the Dodgers know that they can only defend their World Series crown if Ohtani gets back to hitting at an MVP level, and Ohtani is doing his part to get back to that kind of production.