Dodgers clinch NLDS bye as Shohei Ohtani shows progress in return

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a first-round bye and a direct place in the National League Division Series after the Atlanta Braves lost to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. The NLDS begins Oct. 3, giving Shohei Ohtani more time at the plate after his return from the 15-day injured list.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 in the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. In the ninth inning, he hit an RBI double off reliever Mason Miller’s 102.6 mph fastball — his first multi-hit game since Aug. 26 and his first run driven in since Aug. 18. Balls he put in play had an average exit velocity of 101.9 mph.

It was Ohtani’s second game since being reinstated. He led off against San Diego after batting second in his return on Wednesday, when he hit a 384-foot flyout to the center-field warning track off San Francisco Giants pitcher Robbie Ray. Across the two games, he is 3-for-9 with a double, one RBI, one walk and three strikeouts.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani has shown better strike-zone discipline, laying off breaking pitches outside the zone that he had routinely chased in late August. Roberts said Ohtani is scheduled to play in all three remaining regular-season games against the Giants to maximize his plate appearances before the postseason.

The Dodgers put Ohtani on the injured list on Sept. 11, backdating the move to Sept. 8, because of lingering right biceps tightness and left knee inflammation. He had hit .130 (7-for-54) with 22 strikeouts over 14 games from Aug. 18 to Sept. 7. Before the move, he missed four consecutive games and then made a brief appearance on Labor Day.

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, said the discomfort had affected Ohtani’s swing mechanics before he rested. Ohtani had been making subconscious adjustments to compensate for the injuries, Friedman said, and his approach at the plate deteriorated over time. After Thursday’s game, first baseman Freddie Freeman cited the quality of Ohtani’s contact on the double off Miller as an encouraging sign heading into October.

Los Angeles went 10-3 during Ohtani’s 13-game absence, batting .273 with 24 home runs. Outfielder Mookie Betts and catcher Will Smith helped drive that production; Smith had returned from a three-month stay on the injured list with a neck injury. By bypassing the Wild Card round, the Dodgers will enter the best-of-five NLDS needing 11 postseason wins for their first World Series title since 2020.

Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers as a free agent in December 2023 after six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. A second major operation on his right elbow in September 2023 limited him to hitting during the 2024 regular season, with no game pitching until the 2025 season.

The Dodgers also announced Thursday that they drew 4,034,219 spectators to Dodger Stadium over 81 regular-season home games, a franchise single-season record that put them among the small group of Major League Baseball clubs to exceed four million in a season.