{"id":918803,"date":"2026-10-03T07:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T07:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/918803\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T07:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T07:26:13","slug":"ohtanis-injuries-lingering-into-postseason-and-even-he-cant-pinpoint-whats-behind-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/918803\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohtani’s injuries lingering into postseason, and even he can’t pinpoint what’s behind them"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Even Shohei Ohtani<\/a> isn’t sure the extent of injuries to his right biceps, left knee and neck that kept him off the mound after the All-Star break and landed him on the injured list for the first time with the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this, so I think that process is going to happen during the offseason when I\u2019m going have a little bit more time to be able to address it,\u201d he said Friday through a translator. \u201cAs of now, it\u2019s something I\u2019m just going to have to manage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani’s health is key to the Dodgers’ hopes of winning a third consecutive World Series championship, starting Saturday against Atlanta<\/a> in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.<\/p>\n

Manager Dave Roberts isn’t sure what Ohtani can deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that once the lights turn on, the postseason starts, the focus will be heightened,\u201d he said. \u201cI expect good things. I really do. We just haven\u2019t seen it enough for me to forecast it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-way superstar came off the IL with just five games remaining in the regular season. He was 5 for 21 with eight strikeouts, a walk and a double.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have said Ohtani is feeling better since his return, and Roberts believes his at-bat quality showed improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201c(My body) feels really good overall,\u201d Ohtani said. “I do feel like my swing is in a better place \u2014 it feels smooth. Just little tweaks here and there and I\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani was single when he went on the IL twice during his six years with the Los Angeles Angels. He’s now married and a father of two, with his son arriving in late June to join a daughter born in April 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019d been by myself this time, I probably would have had a lot more time to think about everything, and I imagine it would have been much harder mentally,\u201d he said in Japanese. \u201cBut I had a house full of people around me, so that made a big difference in terms of how I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani throws right-handed and bats left-handed. He explained that he was better able to use his left arm with his daughter. His infant son, however, requires two arms to hold, which limited him because of the injury to his right biceps.<\/p>\n

Ohtani took live batting practice against countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto earlier in the week. The last time they’d faced each other was in 2017 in Nippon Professional Baseball, when Ohtani struck out and singled off Yamamoto.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a valuable experience for both of us in terms of getting some game-like repetitions. I got to take a few at-bats and see all of his different pitches,\u201d Ohtani said in Japanese. “It was a lot of fun. It felt fresh and exciting. His stuff also felt quite different from what I remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Braves’ rotation is seriously strained coming into the Division Series.<\/p>\n

Their three-game win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the Wild Card Series forced ace Chris Sale<\/a> into pitching the final four outs on short rest Thursday night. He threw 95 pitches while starting Game 1, leaving his possible start against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLDS up in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it\u2019s going to depend on how Chris feels. Certainly don\u2019t want to jeopardize him and his health,\u201d manager Walt Weiss said Friday. \u201cHe\u2019s had to grind here recently, so we\u2019re going to err on the side of giving him more rest, if it\u2019s even close.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Braves ruled out starters Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez (back) and Bryce Elder (knee) for the NLDS. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a chance we\u2019re going to have to pitch a lot of innings out of our bullpen, especially the first couple games,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cWe’ll have to add some arms to the roster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Braves had a late night after eliminating the Phillies and then traveling Friday to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers have been resting and preparing for five days.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy world is spinning right now,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles is under an extreme heat warning, and it’s expected to continue into late next week.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s forecast calls for a high temperature of 100 degrees (38 Celsius) for the day game, when Tarik Skubal<\/a> takes the mound for the Dodgers. The average high in early October is 81 degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the pitchers are going to have a hard time,\u201d Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani said. \u201cI\u2019m wishing all the best for Scooby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal grew up in Kingman, Arizona, where the average July temperature is 96 degrees (35 Celsius). He said he’ll drink plenty of water Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re just not going to the bathroom because you\u2019re probably sweating it out,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s game begins at 8 p.m. EDT but conditions won\u2019t be much better, with a projected high of 99 degrees.<\/p>\n

The highest game-time temperature ever recorded at Dodger Stadium is 103 degrees (39 Celsius), recorded twice. The first time was Oct. 24, 2017, for Game 1 of the World Series against Houston. It was equaled on Sept. 8, 2024, for a regular-season game against Cleveland.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are encouraging fans to wear hats and sunscreen. They\u2019re allowed to bring in non-alcoholic drinks of one liter or less in factory-sealed plastic bottles. Empty refillable water bottles are allowed. Bottle filling stations and water fountains are scattered around the stadium.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full MLB coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Even Shohei Ohtani isn’t sure the extent of injuries to his right biceps, left knee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[3307,49,48,41097,462,4310,56605,61787,82],"class_list":["post-918803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-heat-waves","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-world-series","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}