NEW YORK—The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the verge of sweeping the New York Yankees in a World Series that has not exactly been an artistic success.
The anticipated matchup of star sluggers—Shohei Ohtani for the Dodgers and Aaron Judge for the Yankees—has thus far been a bust. The pair of projected league MVPs are a combined 2-for-23 in the series with no homers or RBIs.
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Ohtani is playing despite a partially dislocated left shoulder suffered when he slid awkwardly trying to steal second in the seventh inning on Sunday in LA. And he looked encumbered at the plate Monday night, rotating the shoulder in between pitches and wincing in pain at times as the Dodgers won, 4-2, to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“He did a very nice job of competing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani, who’s 1-for-11 in the series. “It didn’t look like it got it got any worse. I just really appreciate him posting tonight.”
Judge has no such excuse. He’s suffering through dismal playoffs for the second time in the past three years. In the World Series he’s 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts. He was 0-for-3 with a walk Monday night.
“I’ve definitely got to step up. I’ve got to do my job,” Judge told a scrum of writers. “Guys around here are doing their job, getting on base. I’m failing them, not backing them up. We’ve got to turn it around.”
Major League Baseball has the matchup it wanted: Dodgers vs Yankees, with the game’s two biggest stars.
Television ratings have been the highest for a World Series in seven years. The first three games, two over the weekend at Dodger Stadium and Monday night at Yankee Stadium, have all been sold out.
But with the Judge-Ohtani subplot fizzling, it’s been the Freddie Freeman series. The first baseman playing with a high right ankle sprain hit his third homer in as many nights, opening the game in the first inning with a two-run shot following Clarke Schmidt’s four-pitch walk to Ohtani, who didn’t take the bat off his shoulder.
The Dodgers can wrap up the series in Game 4 Tuesday night using an opener and bullpen game for the fourth time in these playoffs. Luis Gil is starting for the Yankees.
Ohtani had the arm in a sling as he ran out on the field for pregame introductions. He said he was told by trainers to wear the device when he’s not in action to keep the shoulder warm. Roberts said Ohtani has been told not to slide again in this series to avoid further…