{"id":840249,"date":"2026-09-08T05:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/840249\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T05:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:24:22","slug":"shohei-ohtani-returns-but-he-likely-wont-pitch-again-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/840249\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani returns, but he likely won’t pitch again in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Shohei Ohtani<\/a> strode up to the plate Monday, Michael Bubl\u00e9\u2019s voice crooned over the Dodger Stadium speakers as always. But after four games out of the lineup, the song seemed to be asking fans to believe:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling … good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani at least looked more comfortable in the batter\u2019s box than he did Wednesday, when pain in his biceps had him shaking his right arm. But his performance at the plate still remains in a slump \u2014 he went 0 for 3 with a walk in the Dodgers\u2019 6-3 win<\/a> over the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to really feel 100% at any time in the season,\u201d Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. \u201cSo I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Roberts will continue to closely monitor Ohtani, saying he\u2019ll see how the superstar designated hitter feels Tuesday before finalizing any decisions about playing time. <\/p>\n

The Dodgers<\/a> and Ohtani have all but ruled out his return to the mound this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappointing,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cBut I want to make sure that when I look back at this season, that I used this as an experience, a learning experience and make sure that I use that as something to improve upon for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts said he hoped Ohtani could improve his offensive production by not pitching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one part of the thought, to sort of take the pitching off of his plate and really try to let him lock in on being a hitter and get on track,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBecause the last couple of weeks he just hasn\u2019t been himself in the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the six games before Roberts sat Ohtani because of health concerns, he only had two hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident that my overall performance should be better moving forward,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cI think the thing that I was more focused on was making sure that the pitching wouldn\u2019t cause the worst scenario, which was for me to not be able to play at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Teoscar <\/p>\n

Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez is showered with sunflower seeds after hitting a three-run home run in the sixth inning Monday against the Reds.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Ohtani flew out in his first at-bat, and then struck out on a Chase Burns slider below the zone. He struck out again against Brandon Williamson to end the fifth before reaching base in the seventh on a walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was certainly good to get him back out there, but there was certainly nothing to kind of write home about,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI think the main thing is that there was nothing alarming from the at-bats. To take four days off, to come out of it feeling good, I think that\u2019s a win in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers (87-57) caught a break with Burns \u2014 considered a top-five National League Cy Young candidate \u2014 since the Reds (69-75) had him on a pitch limit in an effort to manage his workload.<\/p>\n

Burns held the Dodgers hitless through three innings, striking out Ohtani as his last act before handing duties to the bullpen. <\/p>\n

Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan<\/a>, recalled on Monday as the Dodgers optioned right-hander Bobby Miller<\/a>, gave up a home run to Elly De La Cruz in the first before outdueling the Reds\u2019 bullpen. He gave up three hits, one run and struck out 10 over 5\u2154 innings.<\/p>\n

Sheehan will remain in the rotation and is scheduled to start Sunday in Miami, Roberts said. <\/p>\n

Against Williamson in the fifth inning, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> lined a leadoff single into left field. After Alex Call was hit in the right foot with a pitch, Miguel Rojas chopped a grounder to Reds third baseman Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes, whose errant throw allowed two runs to score as Rojas dashed to third. <\/p>\n

The next inning, Hern\u00e1ndez punctuated his recent hot streak by lining a three-run homer into the Dodgers\u2019 bullpen \u2014 with the highest exit velocity (112.6 mph) of any ball he\u2019s put in play since 2024, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers during the third inning against the Reds on Monday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Though Dodgers relievers Seth Halvorsen and Jack Dreyer each gave up a run, the Dodgers tacked on insurance in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from pinch-hitting Will Smith. And the team extended its winning streak to five games.<\/p>\n

Ohtani didn\u2019t play a part in any of the Dodgers\u2019 scoring, but at least he was back in the batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like, \u2018long time no see,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Shohei Ohtani strode up to the plate Monday, Michael Bubl\u00e9\u2019s voice crooned over the Dodger Stadium speakers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[275,25405,4279,5460,32271,54919,363,23600,18123,355806,1712,262607,36408,355804,99,1975,355805],"class_list":["post-840249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-day","tag-decision","tag-dodgers","tag-game","tag-lineup","tag-mind","tag-mlb","tag-monday","tag-ohtani","tag-pin","tag-reds","tag-reset","tag-roberts","tag-shohei-ohtani-return","tag-sports","tag-week","tag-weekend-plan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840249","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=840249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}