The Dodgers’ Game 1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2026 National League Championship Series was the kind of night that puts a lineup under the microscope. Los Angeles managed just one run, and while plenty of bats went quiet, Will Smith stood out for the wrong reason: he was the only player in the top seven spots who didn’t get a hit.
That’s not usually enough to spark a lineup change on its own. But Smith has been ice-cold for most of October, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isn’t dismissing the possibility of moving him.
“Yeah, I think there’s always lineup construction I can think through,” Roberts said. “He’s not swinging the bat well.
We’ll see. It’s hard because the body of work, and he just has that knack to get a big hit.
You also have to kind of think about who you want to place, and do I want to flip him and Teo? It’s a fair question, but right now I still like him at the top of the order.”
Smith hit third in the NLCS opener, and he has occupied the three-hole in every postseason game so far except Game 3 of the NL Division Series, when he batted cleanup. Now, his spot is at least open for discussion.
The numbers behind the slump are brutal. Smith is hitting .053 with a .153 on-base plus slugging percentage in 19 at-bats this October. He has not driven in a run, he has no extra-base hits, and his only hit was a single on Oct. 6 in Game 3 of the NLDS, when he went 1-for-4.
Even with that stretch, Roberts made it clear he is not looking at Hunter Feduccia as a replacement in the lineup. “That’s just not going to happen,” he said.
Smith’s postseason history is a mixed bag, with flashes of big hits and stretches where the production never really arrives. Across 287 career October at-bats, he is hitting .206 with a .647 OPS, along with 10 home runs and 37 RBI.
His recent runs have varied, too. During last year’s World Series run, the All-Star hit .276/.364/.414.
In 2024, he struggled badly at .143/.246/.321. And in the Dodgers’ other World Series year in 2020, he posted a .203/.267/.348 slash line.
So yes, the Dodgers have won before without getting elite offense from Smith. But this October feels harder to survive that way, especially with so many other lineup spots stuck in neutral.
Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages, Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman all have an OPS below .600 this postseason. Teoscar Hernández is only a little better at .650.
That kind of collective thump-free offense has been part of the problem, and it showed up over long stretches of the regular season, too. The Dodgers can keep searching for a spark from Smith, but they need more than that. They need more of the lineup to start hitting.
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