Scared, for Shohei.
Scared, for the Series.
Scared, just minutes after it all seemed so safe.
In the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night, Shohei Ohtani took off on an attempted steal of second base.
But this time, not only was he out, he was out, landing hard on his left shoulder, finishing the play lying on his back in the dirt while waiting for a trainer to run out and help him up.
The Dodgers stared silently from the dugout. The fans stared silently from the stands. Palms covered mouths. Hands covered eyes. The dusty Ohtani trudged to the dugout as if marching through a nightmare.
“The scene, very concerning,” manager Dave Roberts said.
The Dodgers’ seemingly inevitable march to their eighth World Series championship? Very, very concerning.
Roberts was calling Ohtani’s injury “a little left shoulder subluxation,” which translates into a partial dislocation. Roberts said Ohtani would undergo an MRI, but, “I’m expecting him to be there, I’m expecting him to be in the lineup.”
The Dodgers and their fans better hope so. Their fortunes for the next week may depend on it.
This is an obvious statement but, even though Ohtani is just one for eight in the Series with one extra-base hit and no RBIs, he is the tent pole that holds up this team.
He is the constant threat. He is the cornerstone of every opposing pitcher’s game plan. He makes the other guy think. He lets his teammates relax. He controls the narrative that has given the Dodgers a two-games-to-none lead with this Series going back to the Bronx for three weekday games.
“You know how big Shohei is for this team,” Teoscar Hernández said.
It was a reality check on another unreal playoff game, one in which the Dodgers seemed to take full control of the Series and the last few days of their season.
Hernández was thrashing. Tommy Edman was banging. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dealing. And Freddie Freeman, bless him, still was floating.
Ice Cube won the night before the first pitch. Blue-cloaked fans shook the Ravine until the last pitch. And through it all, Aaron Judge kept swinging, and missing, and missing, and missing, and manufacturing enough humiliation to lead to a single conclusion.
The Yankees are not in the same class as the Dodgers.
With Ohtani, they could finish this thing in New York. Without Ohtani, this could come back to Chavez Ravine next weekend on a tightrope.
The Dodgers were powerful enough to take control early Saturday, and resilient enough to halt a late Yankees rally. The Yankees scored a run off reliever Blake Treinen in the ninth and loaded the bases with one out, but Treinen struck out Anthony Volpe and Alex Vesia retired pinch-hitter Jose Trevino on a first-pitch flyout to end the game.
The rally started, incidentally, after Judge followed a Juan Soto single with, you guessed it, a strikeout.
The Yankees are not as good as the Mets. They are not as good as the San Diego Padres. They are not as good as a half-dozen other National League teams.
Their best player Judge is a bust with six strikeouts, including two whiffs Saturday with runners on base. The bottom five hitters in their batting order are inconsistent. The Dodgers already have worn down the two best Yankees starting pitchers, and their bullpen is a confusing mess.
They fumbled and stumbled and set up the Dodgers for Freeman’s grand slam heroics in Game 1, then, until the ninth inning, they simply failed to show up for Saturday’s Game 2, doubled in hits and outpitched and outplayed again.
With Ohtani, there could be a Friday parade.
Without him, put that parade on hold.
The Dodgers owned the night from the moment Ice Cube delayed the first pitch for six minutes by staging a mini concert while walking in from center field.
Cube ended his stirring solo march by performing his hit, “It Was A Good Day” before shouting, “It’s time for Dodger baseball!”
Turns out, it was a good day, and it was indeed time for Dodger baseball.
Edman led off the second inning against outclassed starter Carlos Rodón by punishing a 2-and-0 pitch into the left-field corner stands for his second home run and 13th RBI of this amazing postseason.
“Trying to just kind of ride the wave,” Edman said. “It’s been nice to have one of my hot streaks come during the playoffs. Baseball obviously, you go through ups and downs. I actually ended the season on a pretty cold streak. So looking forward to the postseason, it was like, all right, I’m going to get hot soon. Fortunately, it happened.”
The Yankees countered in the third when Soto lifted a Yamamoto fastball into the Yankees bullpen in right field for a game-tying homer.
But the Yankees’ elation lasted only moments, ending in the bottom of the third inning when Mookie Betts singled and Hernández and Freeman followed with similar blasts over the right-field fence. It was the Dodgers’ first back-to-back World Series homers since Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager pulled off the feat in 1981.
“You just go, fight your at-bat, try to get on base for the guy behind you,” Hernández said.
It was all Yamamoto needed, as he gave up one hit and the one run in 6 ⅓ innings, his second straight strong start, forming a formidable 1-2 punch with Jack Flaherty just in time.
The game ended with a Dodgers team excited by the two-games-to-none lead.
And scared to death that their best player might not be there to help them finish.
