{"id":857319,"date":"2026-09-23T03:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T03:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857319\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T03:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T03:20:16","slug":"dodgers-ohtani-set-for-return-wednesday-after-il-stint-roberts-says-hes-considerably-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857319\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers&#8217; Ohtani set for return Wednesday after IL stint; Roberts says he&#8217;s &#8216;considerably&#8217; better"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">LOS ANGELES \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/search?q=shohei%20ohtani&amp;p=2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shohei Ohtani<\/a> is expected to be back in the Los Angeles Dodgers&#8217; lineup on Wednesday after a stint on the injured list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The two-way superstar has been on the IL since Sept. 9 due to right biceps inflammation and lingering soreness in his left knee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani is feeling \u201cconsiderably\u201d better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cI would say if he was a five, he&#8217;s probably an eight or a nine right now,\u201d Roberts said Tuesday before the Dodgers faced San Diego.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The Dodgers clinched their 13th NL West title in 14 years without Ohtani, who was in Los Angeles for treatment when the team beat Cincinnati on the road last week. Now, the four-time MVP will have five games remaining to get some at-bats in before the postseason begins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Ohtani is likely to resume his role as the Dodgers&#8217; leadoff hitter, especially against right-handed pitching. Mookie Betts has been atop the lineup and is hitting .373 this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cThat&#8217;s probably the way it&#8217;s going to fall out, but I haven&#8217;t totally decided yet,\u201d Roberts said, adding that he would consider Betts&#8217; leadoff value against left-handed pitching. \u201cI have to think about the entire lineup structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/See AP\u2019s full MLB coverage here\" rel=\"nofollow\">See AP\u2019s full MLB coverage here<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 Shohei Ohtani is expected to be back in the Los Angeles Dodgers&#8217; lineup on Wednesday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[4284,363,4286,3956,99],"class_list":["post-857319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-dave-roberts","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857319","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=857319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}