Q. I know that you've been seeing a lot of lefties, of course guys trying to be competitive, get you out. When you think about your at-bats looking to get back on track, you had the RBI base hit yesterday, how are you feeling offensively and kind of just if you have tried to make any adjustments or if you're looking to make some adjustments, if you can just talk about that, please.
SHOHEI OHTANI: I think it makes sense strategically on their side that they would put a lot of left-handed pitchers against me. I'm really all focused on just putting up better quality at-bats. I think in that sense that's what I'm always going to be working on.
But on the flip side of things, I think it does help us out a little bit that Mookie is facing more lefties, so in that sense, I think there's two folds.
Q. Is it a matter of changing mindset of being aggressive on the first pitch of at-bats, and where do you go as far as your hitting foundations to get back on track whenever you feel like you're a little off?
SHOHEI OHTANI: During the regular season and postseason, my approach is pretty much the same: Swing at strikes and not swinging at balls. As a result of that, then you just see the strikeouts or the walks.
Again, as I said, my focus, number one, is to make sure that I have quality at-bats.
Q. This year on the days you've pitched and on the days immediately after you've pitched, the offensive numbers haven't been as good, the strikeouts have gone up. Has pitching made it harder on those days to have the kind of offensive success that you want?
SHOHEI OHTANI: I don't necessarily think that the pitching has affected my hitting performance. Just on the pitching side, as long as I control what I can control, I feel pretty good about putting up results. On the hitting side, just the stance, the mechanics, that's something that I do -- it's a constant work in progress. I don't necessarily think so. It's hard to say.
Again, last year I was DHing full time. This year I started to incorporate pitching.
Q. Bigger picture question: Are you happy that you picked the Dodgers, and what are the reasons?
SHOHEI OHTANI: Yeah, I'm grateful that joining the Dodgers and being able to play in the postseason has been a very grateful experience for me, and being able to play with all kinds of teammates this year is a little different than last year.
But I'm just really grateful that I'm in this situation and being able to play in this playoff environment.
Q. To go back to the two-way thing, David kind of said the other day that he's noticed on days when you're pitching, your at-bats have gotten a little bit shorter, seems like you're trying to end the bat a little bit quicker. Does it seem more difficult to balance the two-way stuff with the postseason environment and everything that comes with that?
SHOHEI OHTANI: Same question, so no, my answer is still the same.
Q. You've said, of course, that being a two-way player is normal for you. It's kind of your default state. Do you think that getting back to it just after being kind of a full-time DH last year has maybe led to some of the differences, like adjusting back to doing both?
SHOHEI OHTANI: I know I might sound like I'm saying the same answer again, but yeah, I don't really necessarily think it has really affected.
I do feel like I was able to just have a pretty good season offensively, being able to have quality at-bats throughout the season. It's hard to say. But yeah, same answer as before.
Q. In his rookie season, Roki has been in these high-leverage situations. How have you seen him emotionally and mentally grow to be able to meet the moment?
SHOHEI OHTANI: Yeah, I think he's been put in a very difficult situation being his first year coming back from a rehab and switching to a reliever role, so I think in a sense, I'm very impressed with how reliable he has been.
I'm sure the organization, the coaching staff has been putting him in these high-leverage situations with a lot of confidence.
Q. Given what we saw from Snell and Yamamoto in terms of how deep in the game they went for Game 4, what are you prepared to do physically? How far do you think you could push yourself given that it is the postseason now?
SHOHEI OHTANI: Yeah, I'm very impressed with how Snell and Yoshinobu has been able to pitch deep into the game, and of course like ideally if there's a situation like that, that would be great.
But my number one priority is making sure I'm putting up zeros no matter what and making sure we're the team that scores first. For me, that's my number one focus.
Q. I'm curious, Teo and Kiké have had a lot of success so far in the playoffs. What do you see from a hitting perspective when you watch them hit?
SHOHEI OHTANI: Yeah, in terms of Teo, him, the ability for him to drive in runs, whether that be a hit or a home run, has been pretty impressive to be able to see.
With Kiké, he's getting on base, whether that be by walks or by getting -- just hitting doubles. He is really creating the opportunity for us to be able to score. So in that sense, it's been really impressive being able to see that our lineup is more full.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports