Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani not having a superstar-level October, and the Mets would like to keep it that way

This is Shohei Ohtani’s first trip to the postseason, but the Mets have seen him before in October. You could say Barry Bonds was the Ohtani of his time, or vice versa, and it was the Giants’ larger-than-life slugger who stood in the Mets’ path during the franchise’s 2000 run to the Subway Series.

Bonds already had three MVP trophies, and though his next streak of four straight didn’t begin until the 73-homer season the following year, he was still the most dangerous hitter in the sport. Bonds, like Ohtani now, figured to be a dream wrecker for the Mets’ amazing playoff run.

But a funny thing happened that October. Bonds shriveled on that Division Series stage, hitting .176 (3-for-17) with zero homers and one RBI, dropping his career playoff average to .196 at that point over 27 total games. Watching Ohtani flail away hopelessly against the Mets’ Sean Manaea in Monday’s Game 2 reminded us of Bonds’ feeble performance in 2000, particularly when John Franco -- another crafty lefty -- whiffed him twice in big situations.

Through Ohtani’s first seven playoff games, he’s done a fairly good Bonds impression, and that’s bad news for the Dodgers. Ohtani entered Wednesday night’s NLCS Game 3 batting .222 (6-for-27) with one homer, five singles, five RBIs and 12 strikeouts. Not what you’d expect from this year’s likely MVP, especially coming off a regular season of 54 homers and 59 stolen bases, making him baseball’s first 50-50 club member.

The Mets’ best chance of getting past the Dodgers and back into a potential Subway Series for the first time in 24 years would be for Ohtani to stay mostly asleep for the reminder of this NLCS, just as Bonds was invisible during their 2000 clash. But is that realistic?

Just take a look at what’s happened in the Bronx, where Aaron Judge — Ohtani’s MVP counterpart in the other league — entered Tuesday’s ALCS Game 2 hitting .204 (38-for-186) with 72 strikeouts in 49 career playoff games. He homered and drove in three runs Tuesday night, so he also has 14 homers and 29 RBIs, so it’s not like Judge has been a spectator, but his October impact has not been equal to his regular-season stature.

For Ohtani, who’s also set the bar impossibly high, can the weight of those expectations even feel heavy to a superstar’s psyche? I posed that question to Ohtani during Tuesday’s workout at Citi Field, mentioning the early playoff struggles of Bonds, Judge and even Alex Rodriguez as comps.

“It’s hard for me to say if I’m at the same standard as the players you mentioned,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “This is my first experience in the postseason, so I can’t really rely on the experiences or my reflection in the past.

“But what I do know is that we’ve been playing against good teams, better teams, with their best pitchers. So being able to get base hits, put up results, isn’t as easy maybe as it could be.”

Factor in the high-stakes stress of October, and it’s a very different ballgame. After six months of headlines gushing over Ohtani, on two continents, he’s faced more critical scrutiny for terrible at-bats against the likes of Manaea, Yu Darvish and Padres’ reliever Tanner Scott.

For ordinary baseball mortals, such lapses wouldn’t sound any sirens. But when it comes to Ohtani, failure isn’t an option. A big talking point after the Dodgers’ Game 2 loss was the fact that he’s now 0-for-19 with the bases empty, a strange stat for a leadoff hitter that’s supposed to ignite the lineup behind him. He’s 6-for-8 with runners on, but still hasn’t delivered an Ohtani-caliber impact.

The Mets want to keep it that way. Game 3 starter Luis Severino said he’s studied Darvish’s video in figuring out an attack, but that’s only helpful to a point.

“Of course, Darvish has like 10 different pitches,” Severino said, smiling. “It will be tough, but I can learn something.”

Perhaps the Mets’ best ally is the October spotlight. Ohtani raking all summer long doesn’t carry the degree of difficulty of doing it now. He said so himself. And dealing with Darvish’s varied weapons or Manaea’s crossfire delivery or Scott’s high-octane heat is enough to knock anyone off balance for a spell, even Ohtani.

“He's faced some tough pitchers and they're pitching him very tough,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I feel good about [Wednesday], but I do feel that he’s got to manage his hitting zone regardless of who’s pitching. And I do think he can hit anyone, as we all know."

Roberts also found it funny that reporters asked about moving Ohtani out of the leadoff spot, where he’s been since June after Mookie Betts broke his hand. To him, it just makes the most sense to give as many at-bats as possible to the Dodgers’ most lethal hitter, the 50-50 guy who can provide “instant offense” with one swing.

There’s just one caveat. Ohtani needs to perform like that MVP again to make it work. Or join Bonds on the Mets’ October victims list.

“What I really focus on is how I play at the plate,” Ohtani said. “If I'm feeling good and the results aren't there, then I'm not too concerned because there's luck involved.”

If that’s the case, the Mets need to keep his stretch of bad luck going for a few more games.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.