That wasn’t nothing.
As much as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts tried to downplay what happened to Shohei Ohtani on Thursday night, it was serious enough to force him out of a two-run game in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers said Ohtani was removed from their 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates with inflammation in his left knee.
Roberts said his level of concern was “not high,” adding that Ohtani could return to the lineup for the series opener against the Chicago White Sox the next day.
“I feel good about him being in there tomorrow,” Roberts said.
Maybe Ohtani returns on Friday. Maybe he doesn’t.
Either way, the situation reintroduced a measure of a reality into what was shaping into another fantasy season for Ohtani.
Whether this injury turns out to be as minor as Roberts said or something more serious, what’s clear is this: Ohtani’s window to be a full-time hitter and full-time hitter is closing.
Only once has Ohtani pitched the required number of innings to be a qualified pitcher, and that was in 2022 with the Angels.
He was 28 then.
He will be 32 next month.
That could be used as justification to scale back his responsibilities, to occasionally skip his turn in the rotation, to reduce the number of at-bats he takes.
There’s no problem with doing that – but only if that’s what Ohtani wants.
Because there’s a non-zero chance that he might never again have the chance to have the kind of season he could have this year.
So let him go for it.
Let the once-in-a-lifetime player go for a once-in-a-lifetime season.
Let him try to win the Cy Young Award, MVP award and World Series in the same year.
Now, it could be that Ohtani comes to believe that he’s doing too much, that his body can’t hold up if he maintains his current workload. Fair enough. But if he wants to continue forward like this, he’s paid for that right.
By deferring $680 million of the $700 million he will earn over his 10-year contract, he provided the Dodgers with the wherewithal to fortify their team in ways no other franchise can. They were able to sign Blake Snell because of him. They were able to sign Kyle Tucker because of him. They were able to collect enough talent to where they shouldn’t have to bubble wrap him.
I’ve written this before, but when the Dodgers signed Ohtani, they entered the dream-chasing business. They knew this, and to their credit, they have held up their end of the agreement. They have provided him with a platform to do what no player before him has ever done.
That shouldn’t change.
