The first laugh line of this National League Division Series came on Friday afternoon, when San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt was asked how his club planned to attack Shohei Ohtani.
“I’m not telling you,” Shildt responded with a chuckle, one reciprocated by the mass of media members before him at his pre-NLDS news conference.
“He’s a great player, he’s having an historic year,” Shildt added. “But we feel good about our plan.”
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The second moment of levity, on the eve of the Dodgers-Padres best-of-five series, came a few hours later.