It has been over two months since Shohei Ohtani last threw a pitch in a big league game, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts downplayed the idea that Ohtani would be able to return to the mound before 2026 is over, either in the regular season or postseason.  Roberts didn’t “officially” confirm Ohtani’s pitching shutdown when speaking with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters today, “but obviously, if you’re looking at the calendar, how much he’s thrown in the last week, I think we can all do the math.”

Ohtani hasn’t thrown since a bullpen session on August 28, which was reportedly going to be the final step before Ohtani started the Dodgers’ game with the Tigers last Sunday.  While that outing would’ve just been a one-inning assignment as an opener, the plan was for Ohtani to gradually rebuild his arm strength over increasingly long stints of game action, so Los Angeles could’ve at least had the option of using Ohtani as more or less a normal starter in the playoffs.

Those plans were scuttled, however, when Ohtani cut short that August 28 bullpen due to discomfort in his right knee specifically, and a sore right biceps.  The situation extended to Ohtani being held out of the Dodgers’ lineup entirely for the last four games, but Roberts feels Ohtani could be able to return to his regular DH duty on Monday since he was “feeling well” following a batting practice session on Saturday.

Ohtani’s two-way status complicated matters, as he has to be placed on the 15-day injured list for pitchers rather than the 10-day IL for position players.  If the 10-day IL option was available, it is entirely possible the Dodgers might’ve already retroactively put Ohtani on the 10-day.  Even that might have been overly cautious if Ohtani is indeed feeling good enough to play on Monday, and putting him on the 15-day would’ve (unnecessarily) put one of the game’s best hitters on the shelf for even more time.

It should be noted that Ohtani hasn’t been hitting like his usual self for a month now, as he has hit .200/.303/.400 with four home runs over his last 109 plate appearances.  This roughly coincides with the timing of when Ohtani restarted his throwing progression after some knee soreness led to a shutdown from throwing for a couple of weeks.  It could be that the stress of trying to rehab more of a so-called “moving target” of an injury (rather than the strict regimen of the UCL rehab process that Ohtani has followed twice in his career) while simultaneously regularly playing as a DH was too much for even a player as unique as the two-way superstar.

With the postseason looming, the Dodgers seem happy to sacrifice Ohtani’s contributions on the mound in order to get him right at the plate.  L.A. was able to win the 2024 World Series without Ohtani pitching at all, of course, and the Dodgers already have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow as their projected top four for the upcoming postseason.  With this impressive rotation plus other arms like Roki Sasaki, Eric Lauer, Justin Wrobleski, and others capable of covering bulk innings, having Ohtani pitch would’ve almost been a luxury.