Two truths and a lie: Shohei Ohtani struggles, Dodgers luck their way into NLCS

The Los Angeles Dodgers survived a Phillies scare and will play either the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS. Thanks to an errant throw from Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering in the bottom of the twelfth inning, the Dodgers walked off Game 4 and secured a 3-1 series victory. Yet, even despite winning two games at Citizens Park and holding serve at home, it still doesn't feel like this Dodgers team is playing to the best of their abilities, and frankly their payroll.

For starters, this series featured plenty of juicy storylines, whether it be Shohei Ohtani's struggles at the plate or Dave Roberts' inability to read his bullpen. Dodgers fans are outwardly tired of Roberts, even though he won a World Series just last season. Any postseason blowup by this Dodgers 'pen could be the tipping point for his reputation amongst LA baseball faithful, which brings me to my first point.

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Truth: The Dodgers go as Roki Sasaki does

Los Angeles' bullpen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of assigned roles, but in makeup they should have what it takes to reach the finish line. This postseason, Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki has emerged as the team's full-time closer, as confirmed by Roberts this week, and he has been lights out. On Thursday night, he threw three more no-hit innings and struck out two Phillies hitters. This, it turns out, is why MLB teams were fawning over Sasaki just last winter. The Dodgers struck gold on the field, and at a significant bargain contractually.

“He's definitely the primary option now,” Roberts said on Tuesday. “I think that there's a buildup. There's also a component that we have to win X amount more games, and he's not going to close every game. It's just not feasible. So you've got to use other guys. But … if it makes sense, he'll definitely be finishing games.”

Sasaki's seen his workload increase this postseason, and has pitched extremely well so far. If Roberts knows what's good for him, he won't overthink this one.

Truth: Clayton Kershaw's pitched his final game for the Dodgers

If we learned anything from the Dodgers only loss in this series, it's that relying on Clayton Kershaw at this point in his career is a mistake. Kershaw already had his playoff demons from years past, as he has a career postseason ERA over four. The last time Kershaw was asked to pitch two innings in relief – as he was on Tuesday – he gave up back-to-back home runs to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto, then Washington Nationals, in 2019. Game 3 didn't go much better, as Kershaw gave up five runs, four of which were earned, in two innings of work.

"It was hard to watch," Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. "But we can't use two innings to -- he's going to have a statue out in front of Dodger Stadium. Kind of keep that in mind and understand that, in the grand scheme of things, Kershaw is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best to ever do it. So if you let two innings kind of ruin that, you don't know baseball."

Roberts can't afford to burn Kershaw again, both for his sake and the Dodgers. Los Angeles needs productive outs, and Kershaw cannot give them to him out of the 'pen. It's not the same as starting a game, as Kershaw acknowledged postgame. His best days are long behind him, and it's about time Roberts game to that realization as well.

Lie: There's something wrong with Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani has just four hits so far this postseason, and was 1-for-18 in the NLDS against Phillies pitching. Ohtani's playoff splits in 2025 have been horrific, all but taking him out of the Postseason MVP discussion should the Dodgers win their second straight World Series title. All that being said...maybe we should pump the brakes a little bit here.

Ohtani hasn't played up to his standard at the plate, sure, but he also has two more series (assuming the Dodgers keep winning) to make an impact. Ohtani should also be tabbed to start games for the Dodgers as an opener of sorts, and even come out of the bullpen in elimination games. He's only made one postseason start so far for LA, as Roberts has kept him fresh for when the Dodgers need him most.

All of this is to say that, yes, at times even the best players in the world look human. If Ohtani continues to struggle in the CS and beyond, then we can have a serious conversation. Just last year he was an impact player in October, though, so Ohtani isn't creating a narrative yet.