LOS ANGELES — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sent his plan via text late Wednesday.
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Shohei Ohtani responded with a military salute emoji.
On Thursday, Roberts put his decision into motion with Ohtani out of the lineup after a four-strikeout game and visible arm discomfort in his final at-bat of Wednesday night’s 8-6, 10-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The last time Ohtani struck out four times in a game was July 29 of last season.
And while Ohtani has appeared to be in at least some physical discomfort for more than a month now, the Dodgers are not ready to place their two-way star on the injured list for extended rest for either a sore right biceps or a sore left knee. Roberts even added that Ohtani is dealing with a sore neck as well.
“I don’t want to get too far ahead of thinking of IL,” Roberts said before Thursday’s series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals. “For me, it’s just kind of a day-to-day situation. I think we all saw last night he needed a day.”
Said General Manager Brandon Gomes: “I’m not sure it’s an IL-worthy thing right now. Nothing has indicated that it should be an IL at this point.”
With less than a month remaining in the regular season, and a bye into the best-of-five divisional round still in question, the Dodgers’ hesitation to put Ohtani on the IL is understandable. The reality is that the two-time reigning National League MVP is batting just .137 with a .545 OPS over the past 13 games.
Going back even further, Ohtani’s batting average is .237 with a .792 OPS since the start of August. Strikeouts and roll-over ground balls to the right side have become more commonplace.
There is no good time to put a run producer like Ohtani on the IL, although a softer portion of the schedule is ahead with three games against the Washington Nationals, three against the Miami Marlins and seven against the Cincinnati Reds. Of those clubs, only the Marlins are in serious contention for a wild-card playoff berth.
“It’s hard to kind of plan everything out. It’s hard to kind of premeditate it, especially with a two-way player,” Roberts said. “There’s always going to be trust with the player, but you have to take into consideration that the player always, for the most part, feels like they’re fine to play and keep playing. And you’ve got to really take into account history and where they’re at right now, where we’re at in the season. I think that’s a harder question for me to answer right now.”
The club, which is chasing a third consecutive World Series championship, also will not give up on the idea of Ohtani pitching before the end of the postseason, even though the right-hander has not picked up a ball since cutting short a bullpen throwing session last Friday. He last pitched in a game on July 2.
Before being shut down, Ohtani was 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 mound starts.
“It is still trying to strike the balance of, any Shohei innings are really valuable,” Gomes said. “But if it comes at a cost then you make that decision. We still have some time. We can continue to see how he bounces back and throws. If that is something that doesn’t make sense and we want to make a decision one way or the other, we will. Just today is not a day, or indicative of anything, to make a decision on that.”
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Roberts even said Ohtani was not being ruled out as a pinch hitter on Thursday, although that might have been more gamesmanship.
“What I’ve seen recently, you see him kind of laboring and not feeling close to where he needs to be, and certainly (Wednesday) night was a tipping point,” Roberts said. “We got to see as he cranks up (Friday) and see how it feels and I’ll hear how it feels, and then make a decision.
“At the end of the day, he wants to be in there, but I’m not going to just put him in there because of the name on the back of his jersey.”
Asked if he will have to be heavier handed when deciding if Ohtani can play, as opposed to letting Ohtani dictate the terms, Roberts replied with a simple, “Yes.”
“Players want to play, fans want players to play,” Roberts said. “Very few people this time of year are 100%, but there is a diminishing return where players could stand to be a little bit more honest, and that’s pretty much all players. The DNA of a player is they think they’re the best option and that’s why they’re great ballplayers, or athletes in general.”
October is just four weeks away. The end of the regular season is even sooner than that.
“It’s up to us to kind of figure out how we navigate these next three-and-a-half to four weeks, but I’m very confident that we’ll see the guy we all expect to see,” Roberts said.
Center fielder Tommy Edman was batting in Ohtani’s leadoff spot on Thursday, while Alex Call took over as the designated hitter, batting eighth.
UP NEXT
Nationals (LHP Jackson Kent, 1-2, 5.59 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP Blake Snell, 2-1, 2.42 ERA), Friday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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