Dave Roberts doesn’t need to rip up the Dodgers’ lineup card for NLCS Game 2 against the Brewers. He just needs to stop acting like the third spot is off-limits.
The cleanest fix is simple: move Will Smith down and slide Teoscar Hernández into the No. 3 spot. After Los Angeles opened the series with a 2-1 loss and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, the Dodgers can’t afford to keep running out the same setup and hoping for a different result.
The offense is slumping in a way that’s hard to ignore. Even after Game 1, Mookie Betts, Smith and Shohei Ohtani were a combined 8-for-53 without an extra-base hit this postseason.
FINAL: Brewers 2, Dodgers 1 — NLCS Game 1
— Yirsandy Rodríguez (@Yirsandy) October 12, 2026
The Brewers held the Dodgers to one run behind Jacob Misiorowski and a combined four-pitcher effort out of the bullpen before Trevor Megill took care of the save. The Dodgers stranded nine runners and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring… pic.twitter.com/PpXYoBdWc1
That’s a brutal stretch for three of the club’s biggest bats, but one lineup card can only address so much at once. What Roberts can do is change the order in which those struggles show up.
That’s where Hernández comes in. Putting him third would break up the top of the order, keep Freddie Freeman in the No. 2 spot, and give Hernández a prime chance to cash in any traffic created ahead of him. Ohtani can stay in the cleanup role, while Smith could move to fifth with Max Muncy still batting sixth.
It’s not a guarantee that Hernández will suddenly wake the bats up. But it does give the Dodgers a different sequence instead of asking the same group to solve the same problem in the same spots.
Smith would still be in the lineup, and the defense wouldn’t take a hit. The change would be about reassigning offensive responsibility, not punishing anyone.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is set to start Game 2, which gives Los Angeles a chance to lean on pitching again. But another sharp outing on the mound only goes so far if the offense keeps leaving runs on the table.
Roberts has already shown he’ll adjust by moving Ohtani lower in the order. Doing the same with Smith would be the logical next step. In a series this tight, the Dodgers need a lineup built to score now, not one built to preserve the familiar.
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