Big Edge of Dodgers vs. Yankees visible in World Series after Ohtani injury, right Slump | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Two games into the 2024 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in a tricky space between undeniably good vibes and cautious optimism.

The good news? They have a 2-0 lead over the New York Yankees after earning a 4-2 victory in Game 2 on Saturday.

The bad news? Shohei Ohtani has an injured left shoulder.

The soon-to-be three-time MVP tried to show off his wheels after walking against Clay Holmes in the seventh inning, but getting thrown out by Austin Wells immediately became a secondary story once Ohtani started wincing in pain:

According to ESPN’s Alden GonzalezDodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Game 2 that Ohtani suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder. His strength and range of motion are good.

“We are encouraged,” Roberts said.

In other words, it could be worse.

As of now, there seems to be at least a chance that Ohtani returns to his usual positions at designated hitter and at the top of the Dodgers’ lineup. And if they do, they’ll be that much more likely to complete their first regular season championship since 1988.

For their part, the Yankees would undoubtedly like to trade places with the Dodgers. Given the choice between a 2-0 lead plus an injured Ohtani and an 0-2 hole plus a slumping Aaron Judge, you take Door No. 1.

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani problem isn’t terminal

To say the Dodgers don’t need Ohtani would be an attempt to fool everyone, ultimately fooling no one.

He’s a two-time MVP who just started chartering the 50-50 club, and among his inventory of hits this postseason are some of the biggest the Dodgers have had. Heck, him just had one in game 1.

However, it is clear that the Dodgers can win without Ohtani at the top of the spear.

His eighth-inning double on Friday is the only hit he has produced in eight at-bats of the World Series, yet the Dodgers defeated the Yankees 10-5.

Even before this point, the Dodgers made it through the first two rounds of the playoffs despite Ohtani’s only part-time stardom. He went 8-for-13 with two home runs with runners on base, but otherwise went 4-for-29 with the bases empty.

Take a step back and look at the big picture, and what you’ll see is a lineup that still has two other MVPs: Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, plus a few guys with 30-homer power (Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy ). and what appears to be a revolving door of candidates who could deliver a blow at any time.

Betts had his turn in the spotlight as he posted an OPS of 1.063 in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Now it’s Freeman’s turn.

He spent the first two rounds of the playoffs as the core star whose injury didn’t hold the Dodgers back. Now it seems like his bad right ankle is doing much better as he followed his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 with a solo homer in Game 2.

We also went to the garden in Game 2 Hernández And Tommy Edman. You’d expect the same from a Home Run Derby winner as the former, while the latter is now a .429 hitter since Game 1 of the NLCS.

It’s all too easy to hand out gold stars. Max Muncy had a record on base streak earlier in the postseason. Enrique Hernández has as many postseason home runs as Babe Ruth, and he had a huge triple-in Game 1. Will Smith had a homer in Game 6 of the NLCS, effectively putting the game out of reach.

But while offensive depth alone explains how the Dodgers won the first two games of this series, they also changed the narrative on the pitching side.

The Yankees were supposed to have the starting pitching advantage, but Jack Flaherty stuck with Gerrit Cole in Game 1 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto simply beat Carlos Rodón in Game 2. The only hit allowed was a homer by Juan Soto, while otherwise he had four and two walked.

The Dodgers’ apparent strength in relief pitching continues to hold up.

Their bullpen has a 2.45 ERA for the series, while the relative shallowness of New York’s pen was on full display when Aaron Boone saw fit to call on Nestor Cortes to face Freeman with the game on the line in Game 1.

The Yankees’ Aaron Judge problem could be terminal

It feels like an attempt by Soto to reduce the Yankees’ 2024 regular season to a simple formula, but I’ll do it anyway.

When Judge struck, they won. If they didn’t, it was essentially 50-50.

This is almost literally true if you look at it through a home run lens. The Yankees went 39-14 on days when Judge went deep this season. On days he didn’t, they went 55-54.

As such, these splits represent an inarguable, all-caps PROBLEM for the Yankees:

• Regular season: 58 HR, 144 RBI, .322 AVG, .458 OBP, .701 SLG
• Postseason: 2 HR, 6 RBI, .150 AVG, .280 OBP, .325 SLG

The 6-foot-4, 282-pound righty in particular was a non-factor in the World Series, producing just one hit with six strikeouts in nine at-bats. Worst of all, he made outs with ducks on the pond in the ninth inning. inning in both Game 1 and Game 2.

The judge himself knows what to do, namely make better swings: