
October 6th, 2026
Manager Dave Roberts shuffled the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup for Tuesday night’s pivotal Game 3 of the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, shifting designated hitter Shohei Ohtani to the No. 5 spot.
Roberts characterized the move as a one-game adjustment designed to give the Dodgers a different look against Braves left-hander Chris Sale.
When Sale blanked Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers 1-0 on Aug. 26, Ohtani went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.
Over the course of his career, Ohtani has gone 3 for 15 with no home runs and 1 RBI against Sale.
With the best-of-five series knotted at 1-1, Roberts has Mookie Betts batting leadoff and Freddie Freeman slotted second on Tuesday night.
The No. 5 spot represents the lowest Ohtani has hit since 2020 with the Angels.
"We all recognise that Sale is going to be a formidable challenge," Roberts said.
"Nevertheless, the guys I consider to be at the top have a solid chance of getting on base, and I genuinely believe there will be instances in which the game itself, the situation, bleeds into Shohei's at-bat."
Ohtani, who bats from the left side, was positioned second in the batting order during the Braves’ 3-2 victory in Los Angeles on Sunday night, which levelled the series.
Roberts said he had discussed the lineup move with Ohtani on Monday night, adding that the four-time MVP “completely understood.”
Roberts also remarked: “Ohtani said, ‘I was going to come to you in September and say, why don’t you hit me seventh?’
My point being, he wants to do whatever will help the team.
So I feel good about this today.
And it’s nothing as a sign of what’s more to come.
It’s just for today specifically.”
Ohtani batted .275, amassing 30 home runs and 81 RBIs throughout the regular season.
Over the first two games of the series, he notched two hits alongside two strikeouts across eight at-bats.
After a two-week spell on the injured list with persistent right biceps and left knee problems, Ohtani appeared in the final five games of the regular season.
Over those five games, he went 5 for 21 with an extra-base hit, eight strikeouts and a walk.
Roberts acknowledged that Ohtani has been chasing pitches in his efforts to rediscover his stroke and will continue to be offered pitches off the plate “until he shows some restraint.”
Roberts stated that he does not anticipate Ohtani batting fifth in Wednesday’s Game 4 versus Braves right-hander Tyler Mahle.
"I simply believe this affords us the optimal opportunity to defeat the Braves today and to counter Sale, to counter whatever they intend to deploy following Sale," Roberts said.
"And I feel confident about it."
Roberts characterized the lineup adjustment as “not a lack of confidence in any player.
It’s more of what I feel gives us the best chance to win today.
And then that’s, in a short series, that’s the mindset that everyone has to have.”
Ohtani is hardly the sole prominent batter to have encountered difficulties throughout the series and the postseason.
Braves slugger Ronald Acuña Jr. has gone 3 for 18 in the postseason without a home run, and is 2 for 9 across the first two games of the series.
Although Atlanta manager Walt Weiss has not removed Acuña from his No. 2 spot in the lineup, he shifted Acuña from right field to designated hitter in a late lineup change.
Lane Thomas entered the lineup in right field.
“I just think it’s the ebbs and flows of a season where guys get hot and cold,” Weiss said Tuesday of Acuña’s slump.
“And the same thing happens in the postseason.
He’s one of those guys that’s one swing away from doing something really spectacular.
So I don’t try to overthink it too much.
It’s going to happen at some point.”
For exhaustive coverage of Major League Baseball as provided by the Associated Press, see here
October 6th, 2026

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