RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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For all the complaints that they're ruining baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers won for only the 13th time in their last 29 games Friday night ( LAD 3, MIL 1 ). In those 29 games, they've been outscored 115-136 and averaged under four runs scored (3.97 to be precise). The Dodgers are at no risk of losing the NL West or missing the postseason, but they're going through it right now, for sure.
There was good news prior to Friday's game, however. Shohei Ohtani , who has not appeared in a game as a pitcher since July 3, threw his first bullpen session since being shut down with knee and biceps injuries. He threw 34 pitches and used his entire pitch mix (fastball, breaking balls, etc.). Ohtani's return to the rotation is not imminent, though he is moving in the right direction.
"Obviously continuing to build up volume and intensity, and all of these things are positive," GM Brandon Gomes said after Ohtani's bullpen session (via The Athletic ). "... A lot of it, we just need to take our time and see if he comes in feeling good tomorrow, and then OK, what's the next step? A lot of it is just how he's bouncing back, and do we think it's prudent to keep progressing?"
Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani could throw one or two more bullpen sessions, then he would need to face hitters in live batting practice at least twice before stepping back into the rotation. As they did last year during his return from UCL surgery, Ohtani would essentially work as an opener and build up his pitch count in MLB games rather than go on a minor-league rehab assignment.
"I think that then you start to think about who the guys that he essentially would open for, and that sort of shortens the list," Roberts said Friday (via MLB.com ). "But I do think that for Shohei, knowing that any inning is additive is important, and it was a formula that worked."
Ohtani, 32, pitched to a 1.79 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 85 ⅔ innings spread across 14 starts before his knee and biceps began to act up. As a hitter, he owns a .290/.390/.540 batting line with 27 home runs. He leads the National League with a .921 OPS.
Two more bullpens and then two live BP sessions would put Ohtani on track to pitch in an MLB game in early September. He always pitches with extra rest and it's not a given he'll be able to stretch out to even five innings before the end of the regular season. The Dodgers will take whatever they can get, though.
If Ohtani can only make 3-4 inning starts in the postseason, that'll work for them.
Using Ohtani as a reliever is not really feasible. First and foremost, warming up in the bullpen while still in the game as a hitter would be a challenge, especially when Ohtani has to hit and possibly run the bases the half-inning before entering as a pitcher. (His lineup spot was three spots away when he came out of the bullpen in the 2023 World Baseball Classic Championship Game.)
Furthermore, Ohtani would have to exit the game as a hitter once he's done pitching as a reliever. MLB rules allow Ohtani to remain in the game as a hitter after he exits as a starting pitcher. To pitch as a reliever, though, the Dodgers would forfeit the DH to put him on the mound, and they're just not going to do that.
They want Ohtani's bat in the lineup, especially in close games.
Even with Ohtani unable to pitch and Tyler Glasnow (back) on the injured list, Los Angeles has continued to use a six-man rotation: Yoshinobu Yamamoto , Blake Snell , Eric Lauer , Justin Wrobleski , Roki Sasaki , and trade deadline addition Tarik Skubal . Glasnow threw 3 ⅔ innings in his second minor-league rehab start Friday. He's expected to make one more rehab start on Wednesday.
Wrobleski has thrown 120 ⅓ innings this year and will soon pass the career-high 123 ⅓ innings he threw last year. The Dodgers have to keep his workload in check so he can be used in the postseason, likely out of the bullpen again. Lauer has a 3.48 ERA in 62 innings with Los Angeles, though it seems likely he will lose his rotation spot to either Glasnow or Ohtani.
Skubal and Yamamoto are locks for the postseason rotation. Snell is likely to get a postseason rotation spot as well. From there, the Dodgers could piggyback Glasnow with Ohtani as their "fourth" starter. We're getting ahead of ourselves, though. The postseason is more than six weeks away and a lot -- A LOT -- can change between now and then.
Friday's win improved the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers to 74-49. They have an eight-game lead in the NL West and are a half-game up on the Atlanta Braves for the NL's No. 2 seed and thus a Wild Card Series bye.
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