The Padres may be hoping the Dodgers pull Shohei Ohtani out of their pitching plans, but that doesn’t automatically mean San Diego catches a break.
On paper, taking Ohtani off the mound looks like a win for the Friars. He was 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts before injuries derailed his season, and nobody in the Padres’ dugout is eager to face that version of him.
But the Dodgers’ calculus could be different. Ending the pitching side of Ohtani’s season might help them more than it hurts them.
Ohtani has not pitched since July 3, when recurring left knee soreness sidelined him. Right biceps trouble and general discomfort have only made the comeback more complicated. At this point, there may not be enough time to build him back into a normal postseason starter.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Los Angeles is giving up much on the mound. It could mean the Dodgers are choosing to protect their biggest weapon at the plate. If they stop pushing him through a pitching return, they may give him a better shot at getting back to feeling like himself as a hitter.
And right now, that matters. Ohtani’s body has started to show the strain at the plate.
After his fourth strikeout on September 2, he shook his right arm and looked uncomfortable. Dave Roberts said it was the “tip of the iceberg” after seeing him battle physically over the previous couple of weeks.
Since restarting his throwing program Aug. 8, Ohtani was hitting .204 with a .704 OPS through Sept.
- The Dodgers haven’t blamed the throwing work directly for that dip, but they have made one thing clear: they can’t afford to let his offense suffer.
So if shutting down the pitching plan helps Ohtani regain some strength, balance and explosiveness, the Padres wouldn’t be getting a diminished Dodgers team. They’d be facing a healthier version of the hitter who can wreck a series by himself.
That’s the danger here for San Diego. Losing Ohtani as a pitcher would matter, sure.
But this is the Dodgers, a team built to absorb that kind of loss better than almost anyone. They can still line up a postseason rotation around Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
That’s an outrageous amount of starting pitching even before Ohtani’s role is factored in.
So if Los Angeles shuts him down, it’s not like the Dodgers are suddenly scrambling. They’d be giving up one spectacular option, not their whole pitching plan.
The timing only adds another layer. San Diego visits Dodger Stadium from Sept. 22-24 for Los Angeles’ final home series of the regular season, then comes home for three games against the Diamondbacks to finish the year. That stretch could have real playoff consequences, and it’s what makes the Ohtani decision so tricky.
The Padres might dodge him on the mound. They could still end up dealing with one of four elite Dodgers starters - and an Ohtani whose body is no longer being stretched through a pitching comeback.
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Michael King Can Make The Soto Trade Hurt Yankees Again
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King's rise makes the old trade look even more layered for both sides, since the Padres were trying to turn Soto's final year of control into long-term value. A strong outing against his former club would only add to the sense that San Diego extracted real pitching help from a deal that was always going to be judged through more than one lens. [Read more 🡒]