The Los Angeles Dodgers fell 2-1 to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night, as Shohei Ohtani continued to struggle at the plate during the 2026 postseason.
Ohtani went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored the Dodgers’ only run in the opener. Through five playoff games, he has three hits in 16 at-bats for a .188 average, two runs scored, three walks, no home runs and no RBIs, along with a .188 slugging percentage and roughly a .503 OPS.
Those numbers sit well below what the Dodgers have come to expect from their two-way star. He finished the regular season hitting .275 with 30 home runs, 81 RBIs and an .889 OPS in 135 games, though injuries limited him late in the year.
Left knee soreness and right biceps inflammation forced Ohtani onto the injured list for about two weeks in September. He did not pitch after early July and has said he will need to manage the issues through the playoffs rather than play at full strength.
Derek Jeter, speaking on the MLB on FOX postgame show with Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, pointed to how much the Dodgers rely on Ohtani even when he is not at his peak.
“In a seven game series Shohei Ohtani’s probably going to win you at least one game,” Jeter said. “By himself, usually historically that’s what he’s done. If you take that game away and flip it to the other team now all of the sudden we have a great series. And as he goes, the Los Angeles Dodgers go. The hitters in front of him do better, the hitters behind him are hitting with him on base all day long. So I definitely think they need Shohei Ohtani if we’re going to see the Dodgers at full strength.”
The Brewers entered the series with baseball’s best regular-season record at 103-59, a franchise high, after holding the top spot for much of the year. They swept the Padres in the Division Series and now hold a 1-0 lead over Los Angeles.
The Dodgers finished 100-62 and are chasing a third straight World Series title, something no team has done since the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2000. They still possess a deep lineup and strong pitching, but the early loss underscored how different the series can look without Ohtani producing.
Los Angeles has experience in these matchups. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, part of a stretch in which Milwaukee had dropped seven straight postseason games to them entering Sunday.
Game 2 is set for Monday afternoon at American Family Field. The Dodgers will start right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in one postseason start this year and owns a strong career playoff track record. The Brewers counter with right-hander Logan Henderson.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts kept Ohtani in the cleanup spot for Game 2 after some earlier lineup shuffling. The team has scored only 15 runs across its five postseason games so far and has struggled with runners in scoring position.
Even at less than full health, Ohtani remains the player most likely to change the series by himself. The Brewers’ regular-season dominance and early lead have made them the clear favorite if the Dodgers’ offense stays quiet.
The series shifts to Dodger Stadium for Games 3 through 5 later in the week if it continues that long. Both clubs know a long series would favor the team that gets more from its biggest bats.
Ohtani’s recent history includes big October moments, including an NLCS MVP performance last year. Whether that version returns in time will likely decide how far the Dodgers go.
