{"id":841593,"date":"2026-09-09T09:38:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/841593\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T09:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:38:28","slug":"shohei-ohtani-out-of-the-dodgers-lineup-available-to-pinch-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/841593\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani out of the Dodgers lineup, available to pinch-hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shohei Ohtani<\/a> was out of the lineup again Tuesday, as the Dodgers<\/a> ease him back into regular play after four days off to address lingering right biceps and left knee injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cCame out of [Monday] well, but talking to the training staff, it\u2019s more of the thought of, \u2018Let\u2019s build him up slowly,\u2019 \u201d manager Dave Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Roberts said Ohtani would be available to pinch-hit \u201cin a big spot\u201d Tuesday against the Reds, and he expected Ohtani would be back in the lineup for the series finale Wednesday and, after the team\u2019s off day Thursday, again Friday in Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been training a little bit more, doing just supplementary things to be able to make sure that I\u2019m in a good place,\u201d Ohtani said after returning to the lineup Monday. \u201cI hope to continue to do that to make sure that I\u2019m up to shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

After going 0 for 3 Monday, Ohtani acknowledged that he didn\u2019t feel 100% physically and likely wouldn\u2019t for the rest of the year, despite all but ruling out pitching for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as I\u2019m playing in games, it\u2019s not exactly the best way to recover and heal,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cOf course the best mode of recovery is to completely not play. But right now I just want to make sure that I\u2019m playing, playing well and just focusing on the now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Ohtani out, first baseman Freddie Freeman moved to the designated hitter spot Tuesday, essentially giving him a half-day off. And center fielder Tommy Edman hit leadoff.<\/p>\n

Roberts said that he could see a couple more \u201cproactive\u201d days off for Ohtani down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about, \u2018What can we do to get him to be optimum, as we get into the postseason?\u2019\u201d Roberts said. \u201cSo I think that a day here or there is not the worst thing to make sure that his body overall feels as close to 100% as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year was Ohtani\u2019s first juggling full two-way duties from the start of the season since joining the Dodgers. The team, in conversation with Ohtani, failed to manage his workload and aches and pains in a way that would be sustainable for more of the year. <\/p>\n

The organization tried to lean on Ohtani\u2019s expertise, noting how unprecedented his career has been. But Ohtani hadn\u2019t made 20-plus pitching starts in a season since 2023, when he was 28 years old. On Monday, Ohtani referred to this season as a \u201clearning experience\u201d to carry into next year. It will be for the Dodgers as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just really trying to be mindful of the long season,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know until you know, and it\u2019s important to learn from experiences. And I think it\u2019s good for all of us to kind of appreciate that he\u2019s not supernatural, as much as we think he might be at times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup again Tuesday, as the Dodgers ease him back into regular play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[76497,47440,275,140165,39698,363,23600,356271,58254,36408,5190,3956,99,5751,1599,11484,2394],"class_list":["post-841593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ache","tag-conversation","tag-day","tag-dodgers-lineup","tag-good-way","tag-mlb","tag-monday","tag-off-day-thursday","tag-rest","tag-roberts","tag-season","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports","tag-start","tag-team","tag-tuesday","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841593","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=841593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}