The honeymoon period has ended rather abruptly for Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It has been a long tedious road from that initial 10-4 record to the present 12-11 record. Rarely do we see the Blue Crew so close to a .500 record but then what is baseball if not unpredictable? However, while the fans are frustrated, the team too is now feeling the heat. Shohei Ohtani’s comments showed that recently.

While Ohtani’s been in great form recently, his form hasn’t translated to wins for his team. On Saturday the Dodgers lost to the New York Mets 6-4 in what was their 5th loss in the last 6 games and 7th in the last 9. What’s even more worrying is that this is the first time since 2011 that the Men in Blue have lost three consecutive series in the same homestand since 2011. These are frustrating results for a team most pegged as favorites for this year’s World Series.

“There’s a bit of frustration in the team when you lose,” Ohtani said in his postgame conference. “But think everyone is trying to switch and look forward to the next game. Yeah, when we lose like this, with this many games, it’s not the best atmosphere. But we’re doing our very best to make sure that we move on and do our best in our next game.” The two-way phenom then revealed that the team has had a meeting to address their current string of bad results.

For the Dodgers, these losses can be pegged down to the mismatch in their pitching and hitting talents. While the top of both of their staffs is quite stellar the same cannot be said when one moves down. The lower part of their hitting staff hasn’t been firing on all cylinders and that has proved to be fatal in key moments for the team.

However, the real issue lies in the team’s pitching. With injuries and bad form affecting their effectiveness, the Dodgers’ pitchers haven’t dominated like they should in recent times.

Shohei Ohtani calls it a mismatch issue while the Dodgers skipper calls it a bad week

Shohei Ohtani shared that the “pitching and hitting, we haven’t been quite able to mix and match well. “ However, the positive part is that the Dodgers haven’t lost in a dominating fashion (mostly). Their games have been close, the team has just hasn’t been able to make a final push during the closing moments. While that is an issue, it’s still better than completely losing your form. 

On the other hand, as the Los Angeles Times reported Dave Roberts has called this an usual occurrence. “We’re in it. I think it’s just a bad week, I really do. But with that, even with bad weeks, we still usually find ways to carve up a couple wins. But this week we haven’t. We usually play well at home. This week we haven’t,” Roberts said.

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So there’s clearly a mellow feeling around the Dodgers clubhouse. If there’s any consolation, it’s that the season has barely started. Do the Los Angeles Dodgers have the quality to turn things around? Of course, they do. But when will they turn it around, that is tough to answer.