MILWAUKEE –– Entering Monday night, the Dodgers were not giving serious consideration to removing Shohei Ohtani from their lineup.

One big loss, and four ugly at-bats later, however, that previously steadfast plan suddenly seemed capable of changing.

Following a 7-4 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers that put the Dodgers in a two-game hole in their National League Championship Series, the team was set to re-evaluate Ohtani’s status ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday.

Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic that the team would have “a conversation” with Ohtani about whether or not he would be in the lineup for the contest. A source with knowledge of the situation said the decision would come down to whether Ohtani still felt healthy enough to remain the starting designated hitter, as ESPN also reported.

The development came after Ohtani’s worst performance this postseason, in which he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Over six games in these playoffs, the four-time MVP is now just 3-for-20 with only three singles, two walks and seven strikeouts while battling ongoing right arm and left knee issues –– playing at what the team has repeatedly acknowledged is well less than 100%.

Despite all that, the Dodgers have also been holding out hope for a revival from their two-way superstar. Roberts promised he would “come to life” eventually. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman predicted that “at some point, it’s going to click for him.”

Now, however, the Dodgers can’t afford to keep waiting around for Ohtani magic.

After back-to-back losses to open the NLCS in Milwaukee this week, they return home to Los Angeles just two more defeats away from elimination –– and only one from a 3-0 deficit that just one team in MLB history (Roberts’ iconic Boston Red Sox squad in the 2004 American League Championship Series) has ever come back from.

“Can we [come back in this series]? Absolutely,” Roberts said. “But it’s just, you want to get that first [win].”

Prior to Monday, Ohtani had at least reached base safely in each of his first five playoff games.

Instead of continuing to progress with his swing, however, his 0-fer in Game 2 represented a notable step back.

Before the game, the injury-hampered 32-year-old took batting practice on the field for a third-straight day –– a drastic, and telling, change of routine for someone who normally never hits outside of the indoor batting cages.

During his BP sessions, coaches had also been encouraged by the look of his swing, optimistically noting the fact he was driving the ball to the big part of the field.

“I feel good [with] where he’s at,” Roberts said Sunday. “[He is] certainly not 100 percent, but it’s good enough.”

That, however, was no longer the case in Tuesday’s demoralizing loss, when the Dodgers’ offense as a whole managed just three hits, made outs in all 15 of their at-bats against Brewers relievers, and suddenly looked like a unit in desperate need of a jolt.

Ohtani didn’t provide one. Instead, he looked even more lost than ever before.

He ended the first inning with a three-pitch strikeout, chasing an elevated fastball from Brewers rookie Logan Henderson. He stranded a runner at second to end the second, flailing at another high fastball for a softly hit grounder to third. Then came the sixth, when Ohtani was so fooled by a slider from left-handed reliever JoJo Romero that his bat flung out of his hands on his unsuccessful attempt to check his swing.

He would make one more out in the ninth, lifting a harmless fly ball to left field off top Brewers southpaw Aaron Ashby.

Once again, he did address reporters postgame, still yet to speak publicly since before the start of the NLDS.

If the Dodgers were to drop Ohtani from the lineup for Game 3 –– when the Brewers will start left-hander Robert Gasser –– the team would have several potential ways to fill his void at DH.

The most obvious one: rookie sensation Josue De Paula.

The 21-year-old has only logged 45 total big-league plate appearances since being called up straight from double-A back in September, but has reached safely in more than half of them.

That includes a pair of impressive walks as a pinch-hitter in recent days; one that helped set up a game-winning rally in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and another in an ultimately failed ninth-inning comeback bid in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday.

Granted, swapping even a diminished version of Ohtani for someone so inexperienced would undoubtedly be a stunning decision on the surface. And if this series weren’t 2-0 for the Brewers, the calculus would be different.

But right now, De Paula might be just as much of an on-base threat, and (given he is fully healthy) is perhaps an even more likely candidate to potentially slug the ball.

And, at this increasingly dire stage, the Dodgers might not be able to risk another empty performance from their biggest star.

If not De Paula, the Dodgers could also use the DH spot to potentially fit October hero, and right-handed hitter, Kiké Hernández back in the lineup, after he was dropped back to the bench for Game 2 in favor of Tommy Edman. Perhaps it could also be a way to get Miguel Rojas in as another extra righty bat, especially while he nurses a back injury he suffered in the NLDS.

None of these scenarios, of course, are what the Dodgers wanted to be contemplating so soon into their World Series three-peat bid.

But suddenly, with the stakes rising higher and Ohtani’s performance trending in the opposite direction, all options might need to be on the table.

The best player in baseball, at least in his current physical condition, might need to be benched.

Truly top to bottom, this was Cleveland Gaurdians taking the Rays to school. The pioneers of dragging old school small ball baseball into the modern era kicking and screaming show why the original is oftentimes the best.

Matchups make fights, and one thing is certain after tonight: the Cleveland Guardians are a much scarier and intimidating matchup than the New York Yankees ever were.

Cleveland played an extremely Guardian and Rays style of game, and just beat the Rays to the punch. They were able to come through with the big hits from the unlikely sources at the bottom of the order. They had their young slugger have a tremendous breakout game. They got sharp pitching from start to pen keeping Rays hitters off balance and without any real threat for the majority of the night.

Overall, the first ALCS game played in the Trop in 18 years was an abysmal disappointment and at several times truly embarrassing night. It was so bad, that late in this game I was cursing the Catholic heavens for abandoning their chosen sons of the White Sox, in letting the Guardians advance.

Rays were able to come out looking not at all rusty, jumping all over Foster Griffin. Yandy jumped out with a blistering double directly to and past Kwan in LF. Aranda next in extremely Rays fashion dropped down a pure sac bunt, setting up Junior Caminero with a sharp single past the drawn in infield to get the Rays up early 1-0. Singles from Victor Mesa JR and then Johnny DeLuca would add on and push the Rays lead to 2-0.

That would be it for the Rays after Taylor Walls struck out on 3 pitches.

And ultimately that would be the best threat the Rays would mount the rest of the night. 4 hits and 5 total baserunners for that 1st inning, while the rest of the game the Rays would only generate another 3 hits and 2 baserunners.

On the pitching side, you knew runs would be hard to come by for both clubs. Rasmussen didn’t need more than 1 last time out, but this ain’t the Yankees. leveland to their credit made Rasmussen work all night. Ras took a bit to get into his groove, and the Guards hitters were fouling off pitches everywhere. Cleveland came in with a good gameplan and they were putting on some good swings on Ras.

To his credit, and the reason Rasmussen is an ace, he battled and kept the Rays in this game. Hard contact and some nifty glovework behind him, Rasmussen would get through 5 innings scoreless.

When a pitcher doesn’t have their best stuff, the ability to battle and grind it out, make the key pitches to just give your team a chance is so huge. Rasmussen showed the flashes of the true ace, but his grinding was much appreciated and was the only reason the Rays had even a fleeting hope of winning this game.

In the 6th Rasmussen would finally get tagged for a run, with Chase DeLauter (who had a mosnter game) would take a high fastball the otherway for a solo bomb.

After that though, Ras would buckle down and get through the 6th keeping the Rays in the lead.

Kevin Cash is known for a lot of things, but perhaps the most is his quick hook with starters. We have litigated the Blake Snell World Series Game 4 decisions for years, and while I still contend it was the right call, tonight we can maybe see some more evidence of why that is.

To the shock of most: Rasmussen would come out for the 7th. He’d have a battle of a night, giving up screaming contact, which thankfully most found gloves. Often the old adage of better to be a batter early than a batter late in pulling a starter, and well Cash left Ras in for what turned out to be one batter too many.

I do think the situation of this being game 1 of a 7 game series and Rasmussen being basically the only starter you can count on to give length, makes this choice a bit tricky for Cash. You have a well somewhat over-rested bullpen. It’s also a bullpen that is significantly worse than every remaining bullpen in the playoffs by most metrics. Ras was set to face the bottom of the Guardians order, which he had handled very smooth earlier in the game.

Patrick Bailey just hit the longest HR of his career to tie the game and suck the entire life out of Tropicana Field. At some point you can only tip your cap. But you can also see why Cash has in the past really leaned on being agressive with his hook.

The second half of the inning the Rays had a chance to respond. You show a lot of character in how you handle adversity. How do you respond to giving up the lead?

Rays had a pinch hitting Liam Hicks, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Junior Caminero to respond. Hicks and Aranda would line and fly out missing their pitches. Yandy would single, and set up Junior Caminero to face Hunter Gaddis and see if he can re-find that power stroke that has eluded him for weeks. And well, it eludes him for longer.

Gaddis pitched him really cool. Using his changeup that he rarely uses ever vs righties, he was able to get strike one with a floating change that Junior watched. He finished it off with a cookie of a change-up right into the center that Caminero whiffed on that I can’t help but think over on the Guards side Jose Ramirez or DeLauter would have served into the Ray Tank.

After that, all life was gone from this home crowd. Still a tied game, at home, but seeing their young superstar strikeout, lead get surrendered, and generally feel on the ropes it just seemed that darkness loomed.

Top of the 8th Tyler Wells would make his first appearance in weeks after his late season injury. One of the key trade deadline acquisitions, Wells was nails all second half until the arm fatigue set in. He was not as sharp tonight, facing Jose Ramirez (who singled) and then DeLauter (who doubled) immediately the Rays were into danger zone.

Wells was able to get the sharp grounder right into the drawn in infield to keep Ramirez at 3rd and the score tied. Wells would then depart, for Ian Seymour to face up a lefty lefty matchup vs former Ray Nathaniel Lowe.

On an 0-2 pitch, Seymour could not elevate the fastball enough and Lowe would break the game open with a 2 run single giving the Rays their first deficit of the 2026 postseason.

The bottom half of the inning would provide the last spark of life and joy for the Rays, when out of nowhere Cedric Mullins would deliver his own lefty on lefty 2 strike magic with a solo HR to bring the Rays within a run.

Unfortunately, that indeed was it for the Rays and it would only get uglier and more humiliating from there.

Top of the 9th, Cole Sulser would get the ball and not do much good with it. Base hit, balk, and then a scary outfield crash and the 2nd best hit of the night for Caminero.

Neither Caminero or DeLuca would come out of the game, so looks like this was one element of luck that went the Rays way. But that would be it, as Sulser got two more outs, and then proceed to get beat again by the great Jose Ramirez.

And then from bad to worse as Kevin Kelly would get the grounder he was looking for against Jo Adel, but Jose Ramirez fully tricked Junior Caminero into covering 3rd for some unknown reason, allowing the grounder to roll on by and balloon the lead to an insurmountable 7-3.

Easy and short 9th from Cade Smith would send the Rays bats down without any threat, giving Cleveland a huge game 1 win in St Pete.

In the postseason, especially in the ALCS, you cannot play sloppy ball. You cannot pitch poorly. And you have to have your stars come through with some big hits. Rays could not get any of that to happen, and the Guardians did all of that.

Cleveland deserved to win game 1. They were the far and away better team in every aspect of the game. What is slightly dispiriting is, it didn’t feel nearly as close as the score was for the majority of this one.

Maybe that’s the good thing and a positive to take away. The Rays nearly won this game if they make some better bullpen choices, or played sharper defense, or gotten at he big hit when it came around. The moments were there, and there’s a world where they are able to hold the 2-1 lead or even keep it tied and win in extras.

If the Rays are to get back into this series, and give the Guardians the fight they deserve, they are going to have to play much better in every way.

The Rays need to figure out a way to beat a left handed starter, a struggle they have had all season.

The Rays bullpen needs to be sharper, a struggle they have had all season.

Up next is Parker Messick, another left handed pitcher, Plant City native and former Seminole, getting the start for Cleveland tomorrow night.

This is a 7 game series. It’s a long series and this is just game 1. But if the Rays can’t find a way to give a hell of a better effort, it’s not gonna be that long.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nathaniel Lowe snapped an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single after Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey homered off Drew Rasmussen, and the Guardians rallied past the Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night. 

Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca had RBI singles in the first and Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer for the Rays, who never trailed in a three-game sweep of the Yankees in their AL Division Series. 

“It’s been a while since we lost, so I think that’s a good thing, and I know the guys will come back and respond tomorrow,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. 

Game 2 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for Cleveland, and right-hander Freddy Peralta takes the mound for the Rays. 

Five relievers combined for five innings of one-run, two-hit ball for the Guardians, who became only the 11th team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series with a victory over the White Sox on Saturday night. 

Cade Smith, who pitched in all five games against Chicago, tossed a perfect ninth. 

“Obviously we came off an emotional series, had a quick turnaround. But these guys come ready to play every day. Couldn’t be more proud of them,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We got punched early. And our pitching staff, credit to them, for stopping it and keeping us in the game as long as they did. And the offense came alive.” 

Rasmussen took a 2-0 lead into the sixth before DeLauter led off with an opposite-field homer to left-center. Bailey started the seventh with a towering shot to center that went a projected 436 feet, ending Rasmussen’s night. 

Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. 

José Ramírez opened the eighth with an infield single off Tyler Wells, and DeLauter ripped a double to right. After Wells retired Jo Adell on a grounder to second, Ian Seymour entered. Lowe lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle to drive in two, giving Cleveland a 4-2 lead. 

Mullins connected off Erik Sabrowski for a solo shot in the bottom half. 

Ramírez, whose two-run homer lifted Cleveland to a 2-0 win in Game 5 versus Chicago, provided an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth off Cole Sulser. Ramírez helped the Guardians get two more by breaking for third with two outs and two strikes on Adell. Caminero ran to cover the bag and was out of position when Adell hit a sharp grounder toward third. The ball rolled into left field for a two-run double. 

A crowd of 35,361 fans waved yellow rally towels and rang cowbells at Tropicana Field in the Rays’ third appearance in the ALCS in the franchise’s 29 season-history. 

They were fired up when the 98-win Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the first and Rasmussen battled to keep it there until the sixth. 

Coming off that dominant performance against the Yankees, Rasmussen went six-plus tough innings, allowing a hit to the second batter he faced and eight total, striking out seven. 

Guardians starter Foster Griffin allowed two runs and five hits in four innings. 

MILWAUKEE – Andrew Friedman, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations, scurried down the staircase Sunday night with several of his staff members as blaring chants from the crowd in the American Family Field concourse pierced his ears.

Let’s Go Brewers.

Let’s. Go. Brewers.

LET’S! GO! BREWERS!

Friedman descended into the Dodgers' clubhouse after the Milwaukee Brewers' 7-4 victory where there was nothing but dead silence.

The Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions, are on the ropes.

They boarded the team bus at 8:20 p.m. local time for the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport for a return flight to Los Angeles, trying to make sense of what just happened.

The Dodgers certainly weren’t taking the Brewers for granted, not after winning 103 games this season, but they never imagined that their high-powered offense would be suffocated like this, trailing the Brewers 2 games to 0, with their dynasty on the brink.

“It’s hard to win,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame shortstop Mookie Betts said, “when you get only three hits.’’

“It’s tough to hit,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame first baseman Freddie Freeman said, “when their bullpen is throwing 100 mph with different arm angles.’’

“It’s just tough to beat those guys,’’ Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “They play hard. They never give up. You know, they play clean baseball. That’s the thing, we’ve got to play a better game.’’

The Dodgers spent $163 million on the back end of their bullpen the past two years. The Milwaukee Brewers did not.

So two games into the National League Championship Series, guess which team’s relief corps has been lights out and which one has been lit up? (Spoiler alert: it’s not the team with all the money.)

Milwaukee sent a parade of four relievers to the mound for a second straight game Monday, and for a second straight game they didn’t give up a run, retiring the last 15 Dodgers in order in a 7-4 win that gives Milwaukee a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which moves to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers’ bullpen has pitched 9 2/3 innings in the series, yielding just two hits — both off Abner Uribe — and three walks. That’s it. Both wins have gone to relievers, DL Hall in the opener and JoJo Romero in Game 2.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

Dodger relievers, meanwhile, have pitched 9 1/3 innings in the two games, giving up four runs on nine hits. Reliever Brock Stewart took the loss Monday.

In a series that’s rapidly shaping up as a battle of the bullpens, the Dodgers clearly aren’t getting what they paid for.

“I don’t have an answer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shrugged when asked why the Dodgers relievers have struggled while the Brewers have shined. “I know that they’ve got good arms; so do we. I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.”

Slugger Max Muncy has a theory on the same question.

“They’re really good,” he said.

The Brewers’ 48 bullpen wins was the most in baseball during the regular season and its 3.40 ERA was best in the National League. And it has been even better in the postseason, giving up just one earned run in 28 2/3 innings against the Dodgers and San Diego Padres. In the divisional era (since 1969), only the 1991 Minnesota Twins have a lower bullpen ERA through six playoff games and with a reliever earning the victory in all five of Milwaukee’s postseason wins, the Brewers have done something only the 2014 Kansas City Royals had done previously.

“There’s a reason they’re where they’re at right now and the bullpen’s a big piece of that,” Muncy said. “If there is a positive, you can say that a lot of our guys are starting to get looks at their back-end guys. But when they’re as good as they are, I don’t know how much that helps.

“They’re all throwing 100 [mph] plus and they all have really nasty stuff.”

Especially Aaron Ashby, who has pitched in both games, holding the Dodgers to a walk in 3 2/3 innings, striking out three. He’s the Brewers’ best-paid reliever, earning $5.5 million this season.

The Dodgers have three relievers making at least twice that — and one of them, Blake Treinen, didn’t even make the postseason roster. One of the others, Tanner Scott, gave up twice as many runs in his first postseason appearance as the Brewers’ bullpen has given up this month.

“They attack the hitters,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said of Milwaukee’s relievers. “They throw strikes. They got good stuff. They throw hard. We’ve just got to do a better job.”

Hernández then echoed Muncy in pointing out the Dodgers have now seen six of Milwaukee’s nine relievers, with Ashby and Uribe throwing in both games. And while the Dodgers haven’t done anything against them yet, that familiarity could help going forward.

“We know what we’re going to get,” Hernández said.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy conceded the point — sort of.

“Familiarity, as the numbers tell us, does provide an edge,” he said. “So what we try to do is make sure they don’t face the same guys the next time they pitch if they’re one-inning guys.

Read more:Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after offense struggles in Game 2 NLCS loss

“Can’t always do that.”

Sometimes you can, though. Uribe, who has appeared in all six Brewers games this postseason, has already faced eight Dodger hitters in the series, but only one of them, Andy Pages, twice. And when he does face someone a second time, Murphy said with a smile, who’s to say he’ll him pitch the same way?

“Uribe might have something up his sleeve based on how those other times went,” he said. “Like, well, I never gave him this.’”

That would count as a surprise. However the dominant performance of the Brewers’ bargain-basement bullpen would not. Because even in baseball, the Dodgers are finding out, there are some things money can’t buy.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

This time, Jose Ramírez didn’t hit a majestic home run to decide the game. An innocent infield dribbler was enough to light an eighth-inning fuse that sent the Cleveland Guardians to a startling 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

Nathaniel Lowe’s line-drive single up the middle drove in Ramírez and Chase DeLauter with the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth and the Guardians struck for seven runs over the final four innings of the game to stun the Rays, who took a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

Yet from there, DeLauter and Ramírez - who each had three hits - and Cleveland’s pitching staff took over.

DeLauter hit an opposite-field homer to cut the Guardians’ deficit in half and then doubled in the eighth for his third hit, the rookie setting the stage for Lowe’s heroics.

In the ninth, Ramírez tacked on an RBI single off reliever Cole Sulser and Joe Adell rapped a two-out, two-run double for the Guardians' final runs. 

That decisive eighth inning began with right-hander Tyler Wells on the mound and he induced a soft grounder from Ramírez. But it bunny-hopped along the Tropicana Field turf long enough for Ramírez to scamper to first base.

After DeLauter’s double and a groundout, Wells was lifted for lefty Ian Seymour. But Lowe, who was drafted by the Rays and spent the first two years of his career in Tampa Bay, sent a fastball right back up the middle to plate the go-ahead runs.