Fans around the world expect to see Shohei Ohtani step into the box when he leads off the bottom of the first inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night in Game 4 of the World Series.
But he might not get that far.
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider acknowledged the possibility that his team might not try pitching to Ohtani, even to lead off the first inning.
“We haven't decided yet,” he said, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
It would be an unorthodox move, for sure, to intentionally walk the leadoff hitter in the first inning. On the other hand, this is the World Series and Ohtani is 18 hours removed from a game in which he reached base nine — yes, nine — times.
Ohtani hit two home runs, had two doubles and walked five times (four times intentionally) during the Dodgers' 6-5 Game 3 win, which lasted 18 innings and nearly seven hours.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wasn't surprised that Toronto did not seem interested in pitching to Ohtani, saying after the game that “I get it.”
“He's the best player on the planet, he was on the heels of a huge offensive night and John smelled that,” Roberts said, per MLB.com. “He wasn't going to let Shohei beat him at all, obviously, and even when nobody was on base, [he was] putting him on to make the other guys beat him.”
After a slow start to the postseason, Ohtani is hitting .458 over his last six games with a mind-boggling 1.956 OPS. That's thanks in part to his Game 3 performance and his three-home-run night in the deciding game of the NLCS — a game in which he also threw six shutout innings and struck out 10 Milwaukee Brewers.
Ohtani will get the ball as starting pitcher as well in Game 4 of the World Series as he looks to build one of the greatest 24-hour stretches the game has ever seen. If the Blue Jays decide to pitch to him, he will face Shane Bieber, going for Toronto. Ohtani is 2-13 in his career against Bieber with six strikeouts.
