Three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani pitched five no-hit innings on Tuesday and hit his 50th home run of the season, but the Los Angeles Dodgers still fell to the Philadelphia Phillies and are now at risk of a sweep against the National League juggernaut.
Manager Dave Roberts has had quite the unsavory history with pulling pitchers in the midst of no-hitters, but after the brutal loss, the skipper stood behind his decision despite the historic nature of Ohtani’s performance; even after Ohtani himself said he was good to go out for another inning.
More news: Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Removes Shohei Ohtani From No-Hitter vs Phillies After 5 Innings
“He wasn’t gonna go back out,” Roberts said. “We’ve been very steadfast in every situation as far as inning for his usage — from one inning to two to three to four to five. We haven’t deviated from that. So I was trying to get his pulse for going forward, where he’s at, continuing to go to the sixth inning (in potential postseason starts). And he says, ‘Feel okay.’ That was good.
“But I’m not gonna have a plan for five innings (going into the game) and then he pitches well and say, ‘Okay, now you’re gonna go for six innings.’ He’s too important. And if something happens, then that’s on me for changing it, and we haven’t done that all year. So I’m not gonna do that right now. I would’ve loved to have had him go out there. But if our conversation was (before the game), ‘If he’s efficient, he can go to the sixth inning,’ that’s a different conversation. But it was a hard five innings.”
To the skipper’s point, the Dodgers were up 4-0 when Ohtani was pulled from the mound. The very next inning, the Phillies dropped six runs on the Dodgers, five of which were at the expense of Justin Wrobleski.
Roberts touched on the fact that the decision didn’t belong to himself, but that it was between the front office, the Dodgers medical team, and even Ohtani’s agent Nez Balelo. There was a plan to go through with, and pitching six innings wasn’t a part of that plan.
“It’s a plan that we’ve all talked about and laid out,” he said.
More news: Will Brock Stewart Factor Into Dodgers’ Postseason Plan? Dave Roberts Discusses
Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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9 Responses
Well, it appears from what Roberts, the “manager” said, that decisions like taking out Ohtani (can that also be the case with other decisions, especially with starting pitchers? I bet it is), are the purview of the front office. Although he added in other factions, like medical staff and agents, my guess is that the final decision is made by the front office and Roberts job is to merely carry out their orders. Whew! He gets paid a lot to be a “yes” man. So, the front office should take responsibility for these debacles, including the decisions to remove other recent pitching no-hitters? Or is Roberts just trying to shirk blame? Or both? Either way, I’ve got to know, who goofed?
Well I don’t understand any move that Dave Roberts make. I like him as a person as a manager he is AWOL
Not only has handling of the pitching staff but our batters as well. Game after game we get bases loaded with one out or no outs and don’t score most of the time. Has he ever heard of a safety or suicide squeeze. A double steal just anything different on occasion. If a good manager can help you win an extra 7 or 8 games per season a not so good manager can help you lose that many. That is about a 16 game turn about. Oh for the days of Tommy Lasorda. The players all like Dave Roberts and say it is on them. That is true to a point but Roberts is way beyond that. He manages all star team Tommy won with less teh for sure He stole the 1988 series with his tactics and his motivation. Roberts needs to go we need a guy like Mike Socia who knows how to play small ball. With all the tactics everyone spews out besides pitching it is all about RISP. I am 80 watch the boys since I was 5 we are unfortunately a rudderless ship.
Yes, agreed. Both I and others have written similar comments on all the points you make. I think what is particularly galling and frustrating for most of us is that the team has spent enormous sums of money but are not getting the results because there’s been virtually no change in how Robert’s has been handling the team. I was shocked last night when he let Snell stay in the game as Vesia was trotting out from the pen. I can’t believe Roberts hasn’t been listening to all the negative fan comments – as well as similar observations from various professional sportscasters and analysts. So maybe last night will be start of a different approach from him, including leaving starters in longer, stealing bases, bunts, and making contact versus wild swings aimed at the fences.
Folks need to take a deep breath. It was the right decision to remove Ohtani. Pitch count or inning count is appropriate when you have someone basically rehabbing from their second TJ surgery in MLB instead of in the minors for a few months. They couldn’t afford to lose his bat. It’s far more important to have a healthy Ohtani available to pitch in the playoffs than to put him out there for another inning. Yes, the decision blew up in their faces due to Wrobleski’s 6th inning meltdown and then again with Treinen’s in the 9th. That Roberts developed this rehab plan with management, medical staff, and the player and agent should not be surprising when you’re discussing a generational player who has a $700M contract. It doesn’t mean Roberts is a yes man for all those looking to support that narrative. Collaboration on major decisions being made before the season or game planning is fine. And he’s also not the only manager making organizational impacting decisions with others. There is no proof, although frequently suggested in comments, that Roberts is not making in game decisions.
I’ve never been a Roberts fan boy and am not now. But calling for him to be fired after every loss is a bit of a kneejerk reaction. Posted this earlier in another comment, but 4 WS appearances in 8 seasons, as well as the defending champs, is hard to argue to fire him, as frustrating as some of his decisions are.
Hey Mike, it might have been the right decision to remove Ohtani if he was struggling, but he wasn’t. It’s been two years since the surgery and that’s quite awhile, even if they are afraid he’ll hurt himself. And when he was with the Angels, he was pitching close to a full six innings and, again, he sure looked strong through that fifth. I just think the question now becomes how are they going to use their $$$$$$ two-way player. Treat him with kid gloves? If they are afraid of him getting hurt as a pitcher and use him only as the DH, why spend so much money? Right now, the other starters are doing very well and it was amazing that Snell was allowed those 112 pitches. With the Bullpen still where it’s at, I’d like to see all the starters go deep, including the Big O.
Perfectly fair and appreciated. But Ohtani never pitched with the Angels after his second Tommy John surgery, which was in September of 2023. He signed with LAD before the 2024 season and didn’t pitch with LAD until a few months into this season. With TJ, which is not the same as Snell’s potential fatigue with 112 pitches, a pitch count limit is 100% warranted. And Snell should be much fresher in September than usual, pitching only 55.1 innings so far. Apples and oranges. As I mentioned above, all pitchers who have TJ, let alone 2, undergo months of rehab pitching in the minors, while scaling up to a specific pitch count, then move back into MLB. LAD never moved Ohtani down to minors for rehab so they didn’t lose his bat.
As a way of relevant comparison, Walker Buehler is the same age and had a second TJ surgery in August of 2022. His first start in MLB was May of 2024, so 21 months after surgery. He had rehab starts in the minors before that. Even when he came up, he was on a limited pitch count. Shohei’s first MLB start after his second TJ was in June of 2025, or you guessed it, 21 months. And he never did a minor league rehab, so was and has been on an even more limited pitch count.
It’s not about struggling at all at that point in the game only pitch count, which although not stated, could be 70 or 75, certainly not more. Why bring him in for one or two more batters? If you think a regular season game that he had absolutely no chance of lasting 9 innings for any hope of a no hitter has the same value as a playoff game, series, or long run (hopefully for our boys this year), risking injury before he’s completely able (he’s not) means you could lose his arm and worse, his bat. And again, we had no expectation that both Wrobleski and Treinen would collapse. We’ll just have to politely agree to disagree.
If this strategy was limited to Ohtani, I would understand the rationale more. Unfortunately, this type of move is familiar and often taken with the other starting pitchers and this goes back to previous seasons and in previous playoffs where it has backfired. And Roberts and the front office seem to repeat the strategy, not learning and hoping for a different outcome, which is the definition of insanity.
It is the strategy for Ohtani. I know the history and tend to agree, but his previous moves to pull a pitcher in similar situation (no hitter, etc) were not with guys rehabbing from TJ surgery. That’s the difference, and it’s huge.
There’s absolutely no way Ohtani goes 4 more innings. He’s thrown into the 80s for pitch count twice, but those were max of 5 innings, which lends to an argument that he’s currently on a firm 5 inning limit max and pitch count is important, but possibly secondary. His first 2 starts, he threw one inning, next two starts were two innings. Followed by three consecutive starts for 3 innings. Followed by three consecutive starts at 4 innings. This would have been his third consecutive start with a 5 inning limit, but his prior start he only lasted 3.2 innings. I think we both can see a pattern here?
Mike, I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. What concerns me and what I was pointing out, is that this strategy has been and continues to be employed, as we both know and as you said, with pitchers without rehabbing from TJ surgery. It doesn’t seem to be a discriminatory practice, but rather a general strategy. And that, for me, doesn’t make much sense.