Dave Roberts moved Shohei Ohtani to fifth in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on October 6, 2026.
Roberts said the move was intended to spread out hitters and make bullpen deployment more difficult, adding, "It's just for today specifically." He also stated that the change was for the Chris Sale matchup and said, "This is just a Sale thing." Roberts said Ohtani would not bat fifth on October 7 regardless of his at-bats, stating, "I don't see him hitting in the five tomorrow."
Roberts noted that Ohtani remains confident despite his offensive struggles and described him as an exceptionally competitive self-evaluator, saying, "I still think he's very confident." Roberts explained that lineup decisions are designed to give the Dodgers the best chance to win and added, "It's not a lack of confidence in any player."
Roberts said Ohtani told him he wanted to do whatever would help the Los Angeles Dodgers, including the joking comment, "Why don't you hit me seventh?" Roberts described that attitude by saying, "he wants to do whatever will help the team." He also said he has built trust with the Dodgers players, stating, "I've built the equity and the trust in the players."
Roberts said the Dodgers must respond to game situations in the important contest and trust their players to execute under pressure, describing the approach as "responding, reacting to whatever game situation." He removed Tommy Edman from the lineup, planned to involve Kiké Hernández and said the lineup gave the Dodgers the best chance to face the Atlanta Braves and Chris Sale.
Roberts said he trusted Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whom he described as having a wide array of pitches, excellent command and elite ability to miss bats when necessary: "his ability to make pitches, get miss when he needs to is elite."