Shohei Ohtani's disappointing postseason hasn't mattered to Dodgers

Thanks to their 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken a commanding 2-0 series lead and improved to 7-1 in their first eight postseason games. 

Perhaps the most impressive thing about that record, and the one thing that should be terrifying the Brewers and the remaining two American League teams, is that they have done it while getting almost nothing from Shohei Ohtani, their best hitter and player. 

Shohei Ohtani's quiet postseason has not mattered to Dodgers

After Ohtani's 1-for-5 (with three strikeouts) performance in Game 2, he is now just 5-for-34 in the postseason (.147) with a .599 OPS. And that is with a two-home run performance in the opening game of the playoffs against the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round. Since that game, Ohtani is just 3-for-29 without a single extra-base hit. He has also struck out 12 times in those 29 at-bats.

He simply has not been very good, and it is a sharp decline in production from what the Dodgers saw from him in the regular season when he played at an MVP level and was one of the best hitters in all of Major League Baseball. 

The terrifying thing about that for the Brewers — and the American League teams should the Dodgers advance — is that Ohtani is not going to struggle forever. 

It is almost like he is a sleeping giant who is just waiting to wake up. There is a monster game and a couple of big hits still lurking somewhere in that bat.

The fact the Dodgers have been able to win so consistently while getting nothing from their best hitter is a testament to the team they have assembled. Both in the depth of their lineup and the quality of their pitching staff. 

Winning games 2-1 is not an issue. Other hitters stepping up and delivering has not been an issue. It's one of the advantages to having a bottomless budget and the largest payroll in baseball. It not only allows you collect superstars — it allows you to collect a lot of them. When one of them is not producing, there are still three or four more who can. 

That is what the Dodgers are getting. It is why they are the defending World Series champions and six wins away from winning it again.