Shohei Ohtanis slump is killing his MVP chances and the Dodgers offense

DETROIT — Sunday was set up to be one of those days where Shohei Ohtani changes the narrative:About the uncertainty surrounding his health; after the ongoing challenges with knee and biceps injuries this weekend threw his pitching plans back into a dubious flux.About his imperiled chances in the National League MVP race — following a three-homer outburst from chief competitor Pete Crow-Armstrong the day before.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story And, mostly, about his own underwhelming play over recent weeks, in which his lack of form at the plate has amplified the Dodgers’ teamwide slump.This time, however, there was no magic from the 32-year-old superstar; no towering swing nor transformational moment to remind the baseball world of his stature as its premier player.Instead, while the rest of his club enjoyed a sigh of relief in a 6–1 win over the Detroit Tigers, Ohtani suffered an 0-for-5 clunker that dropped him to 5-for-40 over his last 10 games.“Obviously,” manager Dave Roberts said, “we still got to get Shohei on track.”Sunday mirrored many of Ohtani’s recently underwhelming performances: There was poor pitch selection, leading to his 11th multi-strikeout game out of 27 this month.

There was a flawed approach with his swing even when he did make contact, leading to three batted balls that, despite being hit hard, all failed to escape the infield. As a result, Ohtani’s numbers aren’t looking as formidable as they once did: His batting average is down to .280 — the lowest it has been since the end of May.His .908 OPS still ranks top-five in the majors, but would mark his worst in a season since 2022.More importantly, Ohtani’s OPS is also now well behind Crow-Armstrong’s, which rose to .944 following his tour de f...