{"id":722,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/722","headline":"Dodgers put Ohtani back at leadoff facing NLCS elimination","dek":"Los Angeles trails Milwaukee 3-0 in the series and needs four straight wins to reach the World Series.","body":"Shohei Ohtani is back at the top of the Dodgers' lineup for Game 4 of the NLCS, after manager Dave Roberts dropped him to sixth for Game 3's 6-2 loss. That experiment produced a 1 for 2 night with a walk, which nudged his batting average up to .182, but it wasn't enough to avoid falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series against the Brewers.\n\nOhtani's postseason has been rough by his standards. He hasn't homered since coming back late in the regular season from injury, and he still doesn't have an extra-base hit or an RBI this October.\n\nRoberts explained the move by pointing to Ohtani's recent work rather than his results. \"Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at,\" Roberts said. \"I liked the at-bats yesterday. Obviously we haven't performed the way that we're capable of, so to kind of shake it up a little bit but something that's of somewhat normalcy that our guys are used to.\"\n\nThe Dodgers are trying to stave off elimination and keep their bid for a third straight championship alive, which means Game 4 is essentially a must-win.","published_at":"2026-10-16T05:19:20.697634+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"Dodgers Move Shohei Ohtani Back To Leadoff With Season On Line In NLCS Game 4","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/dodgers-move-shohei-ohtani-back-leadoff-season-line-nlcs-game-4"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"NLCS Game 4 lineups: Shohei Ohtani back at leadoff for Dodgers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nlcs-game-4-lineups-shohei-222205564.html"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Dodgers return Ohtani to leadoff spot for must-win Game 4","url":"https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/50192041/dodgers-move-shohei-ohtani-leadoff-spot-nlcs-game-4"},{"outlet":"New York Post","publisher":"New York Post","title":"Dodgers make desperate move with Shohei Ohtani as three-peat is on brink of collapse","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/10/15/sports/shohei-ohtani-returns-to-dodgers-leadoff-spot-for-nlcs-game-4/"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dodgers drop Shohei Ohtani in batting order for NLCS Game 3","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dodgers-drop-shohei-ohtani-batting-204041414.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"NLCS, Game 3: Schedule, probable pitchers, and open thread, 10/14/26","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nlcs-game-3-schedule-probable-230000665.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Shohei Ohtani leads off as Dodgers shake up lineup to stay alive vs Brewers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/shohei-ohtani-leads-off-dodgers-204013500.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Shohei Ohtani back at leadoff, Rojas and Kiké start in NLCS Game 4","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/shohei-ohtani-back-leadoff-rojas-212216505.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dodgers move Shohei Ohtani back to leadoff while facing NLCS elimination vs. Brewers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/dodgers-move-shohei-ohtani-back-to-leadoff-while-facing-nlcs-elimination-vs-brewers-212230093.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"NLCS Game 4 lineups: Shohei Ohtani back at leadoff for Dodgers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nlcs-game-4-lineups-shohei-222205924.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dodgers make desperate move with Shohei Ohtani as three-peat is on brink of collapse","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dodgers-desperate-move-shohei-ohtani-205144232.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dodgers make surprising decision on Shohei Ohtani","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dodgers-surprising-decision-shohei-ohtani-003547947.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Shohei Ohtani hits Dodgers' first homer of NLCS, and his first since Aug. 18, after move back to leadoff spot","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/shohei-ohtani-hits-dodgers-first-homer-of-nlcs-and-his-first-since-aug-18-after-move-back-to-leadoff-spot-005746785.html"},{"outlet":"New York Post","publisher":"New York Post","title":"Shohei Ohtani electrifies Dodgers with mammoth home run in NLCS Game 4","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/10/15/sports/shohei-ohtani-electrifies-dodgers-with-mammoth-home-run-in-nlcs-game-4/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Brewers have all the answers again in Game 4, finish NLCS sweep of Dodgers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/brewers-answers-again-game-4-031135882.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Shohei Ohtani hits Dodgers' first and only homer of NLCS, and his first since Aug. 18, after move back to leadoff spot","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/shohei-ohtani-hits-dodgers-first-and-only-homer-of-nlcs-and-his-first-since-aug-18-after-move-back-to-leadoff-spot-051521992.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani gives cryptic update on potential offseason surgery along with pitching update","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-gives-cryptic-052223561.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}