Shohei Ohtani was staring at his phone when I approached him in front of his locker in the wake of the Dodgers’ 7-3 defeat to the New York Mets on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
He glanced up.
We were alone, as the other reporters were in other parts of the clubhouse interviewing other players.
I figured readers of this publication would want to hear from their star after he was shut down in a defeat that leveled the best-of-seven series at one game apiece, but Oh-fer-tani was reluctant to speak.
“I don’t know what the other media will think,” he said in Japanese.
“It’s fine,” I assured him.
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Ohtani called over one of the team’s public relations managers, as if to ask him for permission to be interviewed. The official informed me that Ohtani wouldn’t be talking.
I said to Ohtani that I would like to hear that directly from him. Similar to any other player, Ohtani has the right to decline a postgame interview. Just because he doesn’t want to look uncooperative, he shouldn’t be passing that burden to a team official who in reality has no control over what he says or does.
Ohtani shrugged. He flashed that boyish smile that has made him the most endeared athlete in this market. He didn’t say anything and walked away.
Well, I suppose that’s better than him doing a Lincoln Riley and saying defensively, “There ain’t nobody taking more responsibility than I am,” but Ohtani sure made himself look coddled, didn’t he?
I’ve generally refrained from speaking to Ohtani outside of team-organized scrums, but Ohtani’s three at-bats against Mets starter Sean Manaea were arguably his three worst of the entire postseason:
A strikeout swinging in the first inning.
Another strikeout in the third, this one looking and on three pitches.
A weak pop-up to first base in the fifth.
It’s one thing to look confused against San Diego Padres starter Yu Davish, as Ohtani did in the NL Division Series. It’s another to be overpowered by Padres left-hander Tanner Scott, against whom Ohtani was 0 for four in the NLDS. It’s an entirely different thing to look completely helpless…