Shohei Ohtani benching question looms as Dodgers fall into 2-0 NLCS hole

What happened

The Dodgers are down 2-0 in the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, and the most uncomfortable question in their dugout right now is whether Shohei Ohtani should be in the lineup at all. Per Dayn Perry at CBS Sports, Ohtani has been a drain on a Dodgers offense that can ill afford it, with a second half already gutted by injuries now bleeding into October. The Athletic reported that the Dodgers are considering benching Ohtani for NLCS Game 3, with manager Dave Roberts acknowledging that Ohtani "doesn't feel great."

That is not a quote you want attached to your best player when your season is two losses from ending.

Why it matters

Ohtani returned from the injured list late in the regular season and carried those physical limitations directly into the postseason. Per earlier reporting, he is dealing with right biceps inflammation and knee discomfort that have limited him to designated hitter only, with no pitching expected from him at any point in the 2026 postseason. In the NLDS, he went 2-for-13 with 4 strikeouts and was dropped to fifth in the lineup — a signal, even before the NLCS began, that the club was managing both his health and his production simultaneously.

The NLCS has not reversed that trajectory, per CBS Sports. A player of Ohtani's standing being benched in a postseason series is not a decision any organization makes lightly, and the fact that it is reportedly on the table speaks to how seriously the Dodgers are weighing the gap between what he can physically offer right now and what the moment demands.

It is worth noting that the Dodgers are not operating in a vacuum of misfortune. Miguel Rojas experienced a back flare-up during the Division Series, was unavailable in NLDS Game 4, and received a cortisone injection for the injury before being expected to make the NLCS roster. The club has been navigating a meaningful injury list throughout this postseason run, and Ohtani's situation is the most consequential piece of it.

The numbers

The Dodgers finished the regular season at 100-62 (.617), first in the NL West. That record reflects a team built to absorb adversity — and they have been asked to absorb a considerable amount of it.

Where the club stands

Los Angeles enters Wednesday on a three-game winning streak, though that streak is rendered somewhat abstract by the 2-0 series deficit — postseason series records and regular-season streaks occupy different emotional registers entirely. The Dodgers are 100-62 (.617) on the year, first in the NL West, and now facing the Brewers in Games 3, 4, and potentially 5 at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday's probable pitchers are listed as TBD for Los Angeles against Robert Gasser for Milwaukee.

The home-field portion of the series arriving now is the structural lifeline. Whether Ohtani is in the lineup for any of those games is, per the reporting, genuinely unresolved.

Is Ohtani playing Wednesday?

Per The Athletic's reporting, the Dodgers are actively considering benching Ohtani for NLCS Game 3 on Wednesday. Manager Dave Roberts has said Ohtani "doesn't feel great." No club announcement has been made about his availability, and the probable pitcher for Wednesday is listed as TBD on the Los Angeles side, which suggests the lineup construction — including the designated hitter spot — remains in flux as of the latest available information.

What is not in dispute is the physical picture: right biceps inflammation and knee issues have been present for weeks, per reporting, and have kept him off the mound entirely this October. The question of whether he starts at designated hitter is the remaining variable.

The lineup context

Two days before the benching question surfaced publicly, the Dodgers had already been adjusting their lineup architecture around Ohtani's diminished production. For NLCS Game 2, the club moved Teoscar Hernández to third in the batting order, dropped Will Smith to fifth, and started Tommy Edman at second base over Kiké Hernández. Those are the kinds of quiet recalibrations a staff makes when one piece of the puzzle is not fitting the way it was drawn up.

Ohtani had been dropped to fifth in the lineup during the NLDS as well, per earlier reporting — a positional demotion that, for a player of his profile, functions as its own kind of public acknowledgment that something is off.

What we don't know yet

The Dodgers have not made a formal announcement about Ohtani's availability for Game 3 or beyond. The reporting characterizes the benching as something the club is "considering," not something that has been decided. Dave Roberts' comment that Ohtani "doesn't feel great" is the most direct on-record language available, and it stops well short of a lineup decision.

It is also unclear, per the available material, how the biceps inflammation and knee issues interact with each other in terms of his ability to swing — whether one is the primary limiter or whether they compound. The reporting establishes that he has not been near full strength and that October production has been significantly affected, but the precise medical picture has not been detailed publicly.

What the Dodgers do with the designated hitter spot if Ohtani sits — and who fills it — has not been reported.

What to watch

The most immediate question is the Wednesday lineup card. If Ohtani's name is absent from the designated hitter slot for Game 3, the Dodgers will have made a decision that reframes the rest of the series entirely — both in terms of their offensive construction and in terms of what it signals about his health trajectory for Games 4 and 5.

Roberts' pregame availability on Wednesday will be the first place that question gets answered, or at least more carefully not-answered. The club's probable pitcher slot is still listed as TBD, which means the pitching and lineup decisions are both outstanding heading into a must-win game at home.

The Brewers send Robert Gasser to the mound on Wednesday. The Dodgers, for now, are still working out who — and what — they are sending back.