The at-bat that mattered most to the baseball world Tuesday night came in the third inning at loanDepot Park, when Shohei Ohtani continued his push toward 50-50 history by belting a second-deck blast for his 48th home run.
In the Dodgers’ 11-9 loss to the Miami Marlins, however, the Japanese slugger and favorite for National League most valuable player seemed more worried about his other at-bats in a one-for-five performance; most notably, a sixth-inning opportunity when he stranded runners on the corners with his third strikeout of the game.
“The homer helped kind of close the gap,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, after a game in which the Dodgers never recovered from a poor Bobby Miller start (four runs, two innings) and shaky performance from the bullpen (seven runs in six innings).
“But not being able to hit with runners on first and third,” Ohtani added, “that’s something I’m looking back on.”
Such an answer illustrated the duality of Ohtani’s late-season mindset.
Read more: Will Dodgers pitching injuries lead to Shohei Ohtani, World Series pitching hero?
The global superstar has tried to block out the incessant chatter surrounding his pursuit of Major League Baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-stolen base season — an unprecedented mark he seems increasingly likely to reach with 11 games to go, standing at 48-48.
“It’s something I will look back on at the end of the season,” Ohtani said last week, as the spotlight began to intensify. “I’m trying to be less cognizant of it.”
Instead, Ohtani is focused on syncing up his swing mechanics before his potential postseason debut, having batted just .237 since the start of September (albeit with four home runs, 12 RBIs and five stolen bases).
“Regardless of the situation, being able to have good mechanics is something that is difficult to maintain,” Ohtani said. “But I’m really just one little thing away from feeling good. So in terms of that, yeah, it’s a little difficult.”
After crossing the 40-40 threshold in triumphant fashion last month, when he joined the exclusive six-player club with a late August surge punctuated by a walk-off grand slam at Dodger Stadium, Ohtani’s path to 50-50 has felt more like a grind.
The $700-million offseason signing didn’t have a home run or stolen base in last weekend’s four-game series in Atlanta, his longest stretch…