Why Shohei Ohtani May Not See Another Pitch for Rest of Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series

If the Toronto Blue Jays are going to lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, they aren't going to let Shohei Ohtani's bat be the reason they do.

After Monday's 18-inning thriller that the Dodgers won 6-5, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters everyone should expect their approach with Ohtani throughout extra innings to be one that they look to follow going forward.

Ohtani, in the midst of one of the great playoff heaters ever, reached base all nine times he was at the plate in Game 3. He went 4-for-4 with five walks, all of which came after the eighth inning.

Four of Ohtani's walks were intentional. The fifth wasn't technically intentional even though it was a four-pitch free pass, but Blue Jays reliever Brendon Little only threw one ball that was even close to the strike zone.

Schneider's strategy to make sure Ohtani didn't end the game is one that's hard to argue with. The three-time MVP hit two homers during his first four at-bats, including the game-tying solo shot in the bottom of the seventh off Seranthony Domínguez after Toronto took a 5-4 lead in the top half of the inning.

During his postgame press conference on Monday, Schneider explained that moment changed how he approached facing Ohtani:

"You trust [reliever Seranthony Dominguez] to make pitches to do that. Sometimes for pitchers it's hard to do that when you're kind of trying to throw a ball, and he didn't put it where you want to put it. [Ohtani] had a great game, he's a great player, but I think after that, you just kind of take the bat out of his hands.

After a bit of a rough patch in the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies and early in the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, Ohtani has been destroying the ball in the last four games.

Since Game 4 of the NLCS, Ohtani is 9-for-15 with six homers and seven walks in 22 plate appearances.

The problem Toronto faces with automatically putting Ohtani on base means at least one of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who hit behind him in the Dodgers lineup, are guaranteed a plate appearance with a runner on.

That's a disadvantageous position for any Blue Jays pitcher to be in, but it was a strategy that helped give their offense 18 innings to try pushing a run across that might have won them Game 3 and a 2-1 advantage in the series.

When that didn't happen, Freeman finally ended things in the Dodgers' favor with a walk-off home run to leadoff the bottom of the 18th.

There are no easy solutions for Schneider right now, but it's hard to argue with him if he wants to force the other eight players in the Dodgers lineup win the games.

Game 4 on Tuesday will be interesting from a tactical perspective, not least of which because Ohtani will also be Los Angeles' starting pitcher against Shane Bieber.

It won't take long to find out if Schneider will stick with his strategy of taking the bat out of Ohtani's hand since he will be leading off in the bottom of the first inning.