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It gives Crystal one of his rare openings for a laugh line, “Say hi to your shaman, wish him a happy 1969 for me.”

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.

The gags and laugh lines are middling at best and the situation could hardly be called a masterpiece of farcical construction.

These comments may be intended as laugh lines, but coming from a guy who still insists he won the last presidential election, it’s hard to know.

Too often the play settles for a laugh line when what it really needs is the theatrical equivalent of clearer GPS coordinates.