Dodgers Could Face Huge Obstacle Even If Shohei Ohtani is Cleared to Pitch in October
The Los Angeles Dodgers are postseason-bound for the 12th consecutive season. They will play in October once again, and this time, they will look to finish the job.
L.A. has fallen short every single time since reaching the mountain top in 2020. Thanks to the addition of the basketball unicorn, Shohei Ohtani, things should be different this season. Ohtani is now a Dodger and will play for the first time in his career in October. While he has no experience in October, his play will determine whether or not L.A. will win it all.
Ohtani is set to play in his first postseason game soon; however, we likely won’t see his full arsenal on display. The 30-year-old superstar likely won’t pitch in October, although there is some chatter that he may.
It depends on who you ask. If you ask USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightengale, as did our very own Doug McKain, he says there is ‘no chance’ Ohtani pitches.
“No chance. Just doesn’t make sense. He just had surgery last September. You’re talking 12 months. Too much money is invested in him to take that risk.
Not only did Nightengale say Ohtani was not going to pitch, but he also added that it wouldn’t work logistically.
“And besides, I’m not quite sure how that would work. Say you want to bring him into a save situation. Well, what if his turn at-bat is in the bottom of the eighth inning? Is he going to go to the mound without any warmup? What if he’s warming up during his turn at-bat? He’d be called out on a delay, three strikes. I don’t know how that would work logistically.”
Nightengale is on to something, and these would be real problems if L.A. decides to put him on the mound. Nonetheless, Ohtani has defied the odds before, and if L.A. feels like he’s ready, they will figure it out.
The Japanese sensation hasn’t pitched since Sept. 2023 after undergoing elbow surgery. When healthy, there aren’t many pitchers better than Ohatni on the mound. He has a career of 3.01 ERA and 608 strikeouts in 86 career games.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman shut down the possibility of Ohtani pitching for the club during the postseason on Thursday.
“We aren’t even thinking about that right now,” Friedman said. “Again, this is like January for him. He’s just barely a year out from Tommy John.”
L.A. is running out of arms; if they can’t find an answer, Ohtani may come and save the day.
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