{"id":714699,"date":"2026-06-20T02:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/714699\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T02:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:24:09","slug":"shohei-ohtani-not-in-dodgers-lineup-while-away-on-paternity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/714699\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani not in Dodgers’ lineup while away on paternity"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani<\/a> wasn’t in the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>‘ lineup Friday night because he is “away from the team on paternity.”<\/p>\n

The team announced in a post on X that the two-way superstar is expected to return this weekend, meaning he wasn’t placed on MLB’s paternity list.<\/p>\n

The team’s lineup for the series opener against the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> came out less than an hour before game time, with Ryan Ward<\/a> listed as the designated hitter, and batting seventh.<\/p>\n

Asked three hours before the game about the delayed lineup, manager Dave Roberts said he was working out “some things with some position players” and made no mention of Ohtani.<\/p>\n

Roberts was asked about Ohtani’s sore left knee and said he had not spoken to him Friday. “Just assuming that after the off day he’s in a good spot,” the manager said.<\/p>\n

Roberts often mentions if a player is expecting a baby and the team typically announces they have been placed on paternity leave.<\/p>\n

Ohtani, who turns 32 on July 5, and his 29-year-old wife, Mamiko Tanaka, became first-time parents in April 2025 with the birth of their daughter. He first announced on social media in December 2024 that the couple was expecting.<\/p>\n

The famously private Ohtani has never publicly revealed her name and has carefully avoided showing her face in the rare family photos he posts to his social media.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani wasn’t in the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ lineup Friday night because he is “away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[308065,352,2323,363,3,105803,99],"class_list":["post-714699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-308065","tag-espn","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-ohtani-shohei","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}