Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani to Miss Game vs Giants Amid Brutal Slump

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani isn't going to be in the lineup on either Wednesday or Thursday as the team tries to help him break out of his early season slump.

Ohtani is hitting just .233 this season with six home runs, 16 RBIs and an OPS of .767. While it would be a solid season for a normal player, Ohtani has had an OPS above 1.000 in each of the last three seasons.

Ohtani is still going to pitch on Wednesday, looking to continue his early season Cy Young campaign. However, he'll either be out of the lineup on Wednesday or Thursday as LA looks for ways to break him out of his slump.

On the mound, the right-hander is sporting a 0.97 ERA with 42 strikeouts across 37 innings pitched (six starts) this season. Ohtani has been practically lights out in his first full season as a pitcher with the Dodgers, but that's also seemingly taken a toll on his dominance at the plate.

“It’s kind of his burden in the sense of the expectations for him,” Roberts said on Sunday. “If you look at the overall stat line, it’s OK, but relative to who he is and what he’s done it’s certainly south of that. It certainly helps when he’s doing what he’s been doing for quite some time. The energy frees other guys up.

"But there are still eight other guys that are more than capable. And I think you could argue there’s a lot of guys below where they will be. But when you’ve got a guy like Shohei or Freddie, guys feed off guys like that.”

On Monday, Roberts said he believes this is the most out of sorts Ohtani has looked as a Dodger offensively.

“Yes, it is. It is. It is,” Roberts said. “I think even early on, when he wasn’t right, he was still taking walks and getting on base. But I think right now — and tonight was a classic example — I think he’s just trying to swing out of it. And so that’s just apparent. And a lot of hitters, when they are scuffling, they want to kind of swing out of it. And so tonight was one of those nights.

“I think the thought is understandable. But when you’re a really dangerous hitter and pitchers are not going to give in to you, then it’s really not a good mindset. Because you sort of gotta take what they give you. And so tonight, they clearly weren’t going to give in to him. And he took the bait tonight.”

The Dodgers offense as a whole has struggled to start the 2026 season, especially as of late. The back-to-back defending champions are 24-17 and have lost four of their last six series. On Monday, they lost to the San Francisco Giants in embarrassing 9-3 fashion. Ohtani went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts in the game

Ohtani isn't the only Dodger struggling, but Roberts attributed his slump to his timing against fastballs.

“I think he’s getting beat on some fastballs,” Roberts said on Sunday. “Balls at the belt line that he usually hits to the big part of the field, he’s a little late, underneath a little bit which just speaks to being late. I don’t know if it’s a mechanical thing with Shohei. But there’s a lot of pop ups, fly balls to the left fielder where, when he’s right, those are doubles and homers.

“When he’s not slugging, you can tell he’s not right because typically when he’s moving it forward it’s for slug. But he’s just not synced up right now.”

Ohtani's slump at the plate is somehwat understandable given he's also taking on a full pitching workload in 2026. The Dodgers two-way star is also focused on winning a Cy Young award, an accolade he has yet to earn throughout his already legendary career.

As Roberts said, though, the rest of the Dodgers lineup feeds off of Ohtani and other stars at the top of the order. The offense as a collective has been stagnant and it's not something that can continue if the Dodgers hope to go far in October.

“When you look at teams and you look at the teams that we’ve had, every year, we sort of go through it. And really every team goes through it,” Roberts said. “It’s not fun when you’re going through it. But you’ve just got to remain positive. You do. I think that building on some wins and knowing that the guys are working, that it will turn. It always has. That’s kind of what I’m hanging my hat on.”

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