Shohei Ohtani hits Dodgers' first and only homer of NLCS, and his first since Aug. 18, after move back to leadoff spot

The Los Angeles Dodgers batted Shohei Ohtani second, fourth, fifth and sixth in their lineup across their first seven games this postseason. Down 3-0 in the National League Championship Series, they had one more idea for him.

It worked out in the second inning, but in a losing effort .

The Dodgers returned Ohtani to the leadoff spot for Game 4 and were rewarded with a two-out, three-run homer that gave them a 4-0 lead in the second inning. He took a low cutter from Brewers starter Dustin May and crushed it 428 feet for his first homer since Aug. 18.

It was the Dodgers' first home run of the series, and no one was more pumped than Ohtani. It's hard to think of another time the usually reserved slugger was this visibly excited.

Those wound up being the Dodgers' final runs of the season, as the Brewers proceeded to throw seven scoreless innings while coming back for a 6-4 win. With the sweep, they advance to their first World Series since 1982, while the Dodgers fall eight wins short of a three-peat.

Shohei Ohtani's homer came after a month of struggles

Ohtani was the Dodgers' every-day leadoff hitter from June 2024 until September of this year. Due to struggles related to knee, biceps and neck injuries, the Dodgers placed him on the injured list in September, then put him in a leadoff platoon with Betts when he returned for the final five games of the season.

However, Ohtani struggled mightily after coming back from the IL, which resulted in him moving further back in the batting order until he was hitting sixth in Game 3 on Wednesday, his lowest placement since before his first MVP year in 2021 .

Ohtani, who was adamant about continuing to play, did have a decent game Wednesday, going 1-for-2 with a single, walk and hit-by-pitch. That was apparently enough to convince the Dodgers to give leadoff another try.

Here's Dodgers manager Dave Roberts' pregame explanation:

"Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at. I like the at-bats yesterday, and I felt that trying to shake it up a bit — obviously, we haven't performed the way that we're capable of. Something that's of somewhat normalcy that our guys are used to."

Ohtani's placement was ultimately a small button to press, but the Dodgers were at the point where they would try anything. Their offense, one of the best in baseball during the regular season, went dormant in the NLCS after barely showing up in the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.

Dodgers hitters entered Game 4 hitting 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position in the postseason, with zero home runs this series. You can ascribe that to basic bad luck, a lack of execution from a veteran-heavy group, clutch performance by the Brewers (and Braves) pitchers or some sort of Space Jam-esque talent robbery, but it all added up to a unit that needed a change.

Ohtani, as he has so many times in the past, delivered on that front in the second inning. Unfortunately, more of the same followed, as the Dodgers finished the game 2-for-11 with RISP.