Could Shohei Ohtani’s health jeopardize Dodgers’ playoff run?
Bob Nightengale examines concerns surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s health and what they could mean for the Dodgers as they prepare for another playoff run.
Sports Seriously
Andrew Friedman, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, told reporters in Cincinnati that he expects Shohei Ohtani will return during the club’s final nine games of the regular season.
Speaking after the champagne celebration that followed the club’s 8-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that clinched the National League West, Friedman said of Ohtani, “I expect him back in the regular season.”
The four-time MVP and two-way superstar will not pitch this season due to right biceps and left knee injuries, and he has not been in the Dodgers lineup since Sept. 7, after which he was placed on the 15-day injured list. Ohtani sat out five games before giving that one a go, and he had just six hits in 49 at-bats (.122) with no home runs in his final 61 plate appearances.
Much of that span was spent trying to also return as a pitcher, before a bullpen session on Aug. 28 was cut short. The club is hoping his focus on playing one side of the ball enables his body not only to heal, but hold up as the Dodgers aim for a third consecutive World Series title.
For the season, Ohtani is batting .277 with 30 home runs and a .902 OPS, and will likely cede his two-year reign as NL MVP to the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong.