“I was surprised that he expanded (chased out of the strike zone) versus Darvish,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Scott is just — it’s nitrous coming at you with the slider. That’s just a tough at-bat for any left-hander. Manaea, I just can’t imagine the ball coming from first base coming at you and then trying to hit him.”

As the weariness in Betts’ response indicated — this is the kind of scrutiny that comes with being one of the elite players in the game. Ohtani is certainly not alone among those stars in struggling to replicate his regular-season success in the postseason.

The presumptive American League MVP, Aaron Judge, went into the Yankees’ ALCS Game on Tuesday night with a .204 career batting average in postseason play, including 2 for 15 (.133) this year. Seven-time NL MVP Barry Bonds was a .196 hitter in the postseason before breaking through with the San Francisco Giants in 2002. Three-time AL MVP Alex Rodriguez was a .259 hitter in the postseason.

And Betts himself had to break an 0-for-22 postseason slump this October.

“It’s hard for me to say if I’m at the same standard as the players you mentioned,” Ohtani said humbly. “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.

“And so with that being said, my focus really is on just whatever happened in the previous game, that’s it. And I’m really focused on the next game and something that perhaps I would reflect back once everything is over.”

The strangest thing about Ohtani’s postseason performance has been the wide difference between his results with runners on or the bases empty. That has prompted questions about the lineup and whether Roberts should put Betts back at leadoff with Ohtani second — the arrangement for the first 73 games of the season until Betts suffered a fractured hand.

Roberts said he has “not really” given that any consideration.

“I think we’ve been pretty good offensively. I think the guys at the bottom have been doing a nice job of getting on base,” he said after Game 2. “And as far as moving him down, I just don’t want to be too reactive. I don’t really see the benefit. We’ve got to just make sure that our guys are just still swinging the bat well.

“And quite frankly, I want Shohei to get five at-bats a game. I think he’s our best hitter, and I want him up there five times.”

Whether those at-bats come with runners on base or not doesn’t really matter, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

“I don’t think you change (how you pitch to him),” Mendoza said. “He’s Shohei Ohtani. He’s one of the best hitters in the league. Whether there’s nobody on base or people on base, you’ve got your work cut out. And you have to manage the game and see how you’re going to attack him, how you’re going to pitch to him in certain situations.

“But like I said, runners on base, no runners on, he’s an elite hitter. He’s dangerous. I don’t think it changes much.”