Shohei Ohtani is not 100 percent, and the Dodgers are not pretending otherwise. Manager Dave Roberts confirmed on Aug. 29 that Ohtani’s planned Sunday pitching return against the Tigers is off. He also will not pitch Tuesday. Bob Nightengale reported the return has been postponed with no new timeline attached.
Ohtani is dealing with issues in both his left knee and his right bicep, per Roberts. His Friday bullpen session was abbreviated. He has not pitched in a major league game since July 3. And Los Angeles is going to take the smart, boring, unimpeachable approach and wait him out.
The Dodgers Have the Luxury of Patience
Los Angeles is going to make the playoffs. That is not really up for debate. The record is what it is. The division is what it is. October is coming whether Ohtani throws another regular season inning or not.
Given that reality, why would you push him? The answer is you would not. Not with a bicep issue on the throwing arm. Not with a knee that is barking on his plant leg. Not with a $700 million contract still in its early years and a body that has already been through more surgeries than most pitchers get in an entire career.
The Dual-Threat Balance Is Fragile
Ohtani is asking his body to do a thing no other human being has done in the modern game. He hits every day. He plays defense. He pitches on his turn. He runs the bases like a leadoff man. Every part of that puzzle is stressed constantly, and any one of them can fall out of place at any time.
The bicep is a concern. Bicep issues on pitchers tend to be sneaky, sometimes minor, sometimes career-altering. The knee is a concern because Ohtani’s plant leg is doing a huge amount of work every single time he throws. If either one is compromised, the delivery falls apart.
The last time Ohtani came back to the mound this year, he hit 100 mph. That is the guy the Dodgers eventually want in the playoff rotation. But that is not the guy who is available today.
The Playoff Version Is What Matters
The Dodgers do not need Shohei Ohtani in August. They need Shohei Ohtani in October. Every rehab decision from here is being made with that filter. If he throws two more regular season starts or five more or zero more, none of it matters if he cannot give them 90 pitches in a Game 3 of the NLCS.
Roberts is going to catch criticism from people who want daily updates, but the pitcher’s manager job is not to satisfy the media cycle. It is to get his guys to the playoffs healthy. In this case, that means slow-walking Ohtani back and being fully willing to punt on any regular season pitching return if the medical staff is not comfortable.
What Comes Next
Watch for a modified schedule and a lot of vague answers. Watch for a bullpen or two next week that get described in the softest possible terms. Watch for Roberts to keep repeating some version of “we’re going to make sure he’s right.”
The Dodgers have earned the benefit of the doubt on this stuff. The MVP of the sport also happens to be their most important player. Getting him to October healthy is worth every August start they leave on the table.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
