Shohei Ohtani’s next mound turn is on hold, and so is his trip to the All-Star Game.
The Los Angeles Dodgers said Ohtani will not make his scheduled pitching start Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks because of continued irritation in his left knee. He will still handle designated hitter duties for the rest of the weekend, but after the series he’ll undergo treatment aimed at getting him in the best possible shape for the second half of the season.
“Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani will not make his scheduled start on the mound this evening against the Arizona Diamondbacks due to continued irritation in his left knee,” the team announced.
“He will serve as the designated hitter the rest of the weekend, but following the series against the Diamondbacks he will have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season.
“Unfortunately, due to these events, he will not be able to travel to Philadelphia and participate in the 2026 All-Star Game.”
Ohtani had left a game in mid-June with knee inflammation and has been playing through it since then. The Dodgers have managed him carefully, and until now it hadn’t cost him any meaningful time.
This will be the first pitching start Ohtani has missed all season. The Dodgers are prioritizing the bigger picture, with October in mind, which is why he’ll skip the All-Star festivities while he works toward a full recovery.
He had been the leading vote getter in the National League and was slated to start at designated hitter. Dave Roberts said he expected Ohtani to get one or two at-bats in the game, though pitching was already considered unlikely.
On the mound, Ohtani finished the first half at 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA over 14 starts and 85.2 innings. He gave up only five earned runs across his first 10 starts, then allowed 12 over his last four.
At the plate, he’s hitting .290/.405/.534 with 20 home runs, 56 RBIs and a .939 OPS. Since the knee issue surfaced, the Dodgers have stopped him from stealing bases, but they haven’t imposed any other restrictions.
With Ohtani unavailable to pitch, Los Angeles will use a bullpen game Friday night. The club had Thursday off and still has three games left this weekend before the break, so the relief corps should be fresh and ready.
In Other News...
Blake Snell Just Gave Dodgers Fans A Reason To Believe Again
Blake Snells recovery has moved into a more encouraging phase for the Dodgers, with the left-hander saying he feels the best he has in two years after elbow surgery and has no pain in his arm. Snell has already been facing live hitters as he works his way back from the procedure, and the next step in his return should be a rehab assignment before he tries to rejoin the starting rotation.
For a team that has had to manage plenty of pitching uncertainty, any sign that Snell is trending toward a mid-August return matters. His surgery used a NanoNeedle procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow, and while the final stretch of the comeback still has to play out, the early signs are at least giving Dodgers fans a reason to think the rotation could get a meaningful boost soon. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Trade Proposal Puts Orioles In A Tough Spot With Lefty
The Dodgers are still weighing ways to add pitching before the trade deadline, and one idea on the table would send them after a left-hander who has quietly rebuilt his value over the summer. Baltimores Trevor Rogers has looked much sharper in recent weeks, which is exactly the kind of rebound that can make a front office pause and ask whether the market price is about to rise.
For Los Angeles, the question is less about whether Rogers can help and more about how much prospect capital it should be willing to part with to get him. Jackson Ferris remains one of the organizations more intriguing young arms, while Ryan Ward has also put himself on the radar as a depth bat, so any deal built around those two would force the Dodgers to decide how aggressively they want to chase immediate rotation help. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Still Have One Lineup Problem That Could Haunt October
The Dodgers have spent much of the season trying to solve a lineup question that sits just behind Shohei Ohtani, where production has been uneven enough to keep drawing manager Dave Roberts back to the topic. The No. 2 spot is supposed to be a bridge between Ohtani and the rest of the order, but the team has rotated several accomplished hitters through it without finding much consistency, leaving a small but persistent hole in a lineup built to overwhelm opponents.
Roberts has acknowledged there may be a mental side to the job, with hitters feeling the weight of batting directly behind Ohtani, though he stopped short of saying he knows that for certain. The Dodgers are still weighing options for later in the season, including a possible look at Will Smith when he returns from injury, and the answer could matter more in October than it has in the regular season if this one spot continues to lag. [Read more 🡒]