Shohei Ohtani has had quite the week. After taking the mound against the last-place Rockies, he struggled in a way rarely seen. His outing lasted just four innings, short of the scheduled five, and he allowed five earned runs on nine hits—marking one of his roughest performances in recent memory.

While the defending World Series champions are aiming for consecutive titles, they have struggled as of late. Just last week, their struggles were viewed as historic in some ways. Speaking on an offensive setback for the Dodgers, The Angels pulled off just their eighth triple play ever, while the Dodgers have now been on the unlucky end 24 times, per Baseball Almanac’s tracker. Interestingly, in the 152 games of the Freeway Series since 1997, this was the first triple play between the two teams, as reported by SI.

Yet, Dave Roberts believes it’s not a situation for a team meeting. He did not directly address this for Ohtani, but he believes, “It’s certainly not a team meeting situation because there are not a lot of people that are in this conversation.”

Further, he continued, “But again, we have the guys; they’ve done it before. It’s just a reminder that, you know, let’s just get back to being who we are. And doing those little things. Scratching and clawing and finding ways and again willing yourself, your team, and your offense to score some runs.”

The Dodgers are trying all they can to not let his pitching workload influence his offensive metrics. In Ohtani’s first 12 games of August, he has attempted five steals, a shift that Roberts attributed to the urgency of this moment. It might just be a small part of a much bigger conflict—between what Ohtani can do and what the Dodgers believe he should.

Shohei Ohtani Could Be the Last Two-Way Player the League Will Witness for Some Time

Shohei Ohtani made his MLB debut back in 2018. And since then, through these years, one question has been asked repeatedly: where are all the other two-way players? For now he’s the only player in MLB with two-way powers. This agenda was discussed recently in The Athletic.

After Ohtani’s arrival in MLB, many players did try to follow in his footsteps with a vision to become a full-time two-way player. However, none have found consistent success at the major league level. Players such as Brendan McKay, Nolan McLean, Carson Benge, Mitch Voit, Reggie Crawford, Bryce Eldridge, and Jac Caglianone either entered professional baseball as two-way prospects or showed the necessary skills in the minors. But at the end, each of them ultimately specialized in either hitting or pitching.

Former two-way player Michael Lorenzen, who played with Ohtani in Anaheim back in the day, offered insight into why this happens. “He got to make every decision, like, this is what I want to do.” Lorezen said.

According to him, it’s not just a question of skill or dedication; it’s also about opportunity. He hails from Japan’s top league—Nippon Professional Baseball. They afforded Shohei Ohtani the kind of proving ground that no MLB organization has been willing to extend to its own two-way prospects in the minor leagues.