Shohei Ohtani’s knee issue is not behind him, after all.

On Friday, the Dodgers scratched the two-way star from his scheduled pitching start against the Arizona Diamondbacks and announced that he will not travel to next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia because of “continued irritation in his left knee,” the same one in which he dealt with inflammation last month.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani will miss scheduled pitching start Friday and the All-Star Game next week to get an “intervention” on his ailing left knee. Getty Images

Ohtani will continue to serve as the team’s designated hitter during this weekend’s series, as his knee doesn’t bother him while swinging. 

But once the All-Star break arrives, he will “have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season,” per the club’s announcement.

Manager Dave Roberts said that will entail Ohtani having his knee drained following Sunday’s first-half finale.

According to a source with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly, Ohtani is also likely to receive a pain-relieving injection.

“He’s been managing this quite well,” Roberts said. “So if there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were gonna do that.”

For now, the initial expectation is that Ohtani –– who did not address reporters prior to Friday’s game –– will be able to return to two-way duties, including pitching, when the season resumes after the All-Star break.

Though Roberts wasn’t sure exactly where the four-time MVP would slot back into the team’s rotation, he was adamant that Friday’s news is “not going to change anything for the second half as far as pitching.”

“We all know with where we’re at, who he is as a player, if there’s opportunities to be extra cautious and mindful, it’s just prudent,” Roberts reiterated. “Our hope is that if we can not make this [Friday pitching] start, give him a full X amount of days to get the inflammation out, get strong, recover body-wise, then I think that he should be in a much better spot.”

Ohtani’s knee problem first surfaced a month ago, following a June 10 pitching start against the Pittsburgh Pirates –– when he felt like poor pitching mechanics had put added stress on his left landing leg.

The following day, he was removed early from the Dodgers’ game as a DH because of swelling in his knee. He missed another game the next day, as well, before returning to the lineup and resuming his full-time two-way role since.

The Dodgers had downplayed the severity of the issue recently, even though Ohtani had continued to receive treatment on the injury and was seen wearing a sleeve over his knee.

“Nothing is gonna come in front of being healthy for October,” Roberts said, noting that it was the team that suggested this treatment plan to Ohtani this week. “So for him to concede and miss a start for the best interest of him and the team, that’s not a surprise.”

Back in 2019, Ohtani had surgery on the same left knee to address a rare congenital condition called bipartite patella –– in which the bones of the kneecap don’t fuse together at birth.

However, Roberts has said the team’s belief is that this year’s knee problem was not related to that.

Ohtani has still been putting together another MVP-caliber performance overall this season.

He is batting .290 at the plate with 20 home runs, 56 RBIs and a .939 OPS that ranks sixth-best in the majors. He is 8-2 as a pitcher with a 1.79 ERA, second-best in the majors among pitchers with at least 80 innings.

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But going back to that June 10 start when he first dealt with his knee issue, he has given up at least three runs in four consecutive outings, sporting a 4.38 ERA over that time.

“We all know that the last, call it four or five [outings], haven’t been crisp from him,” Roberts acknowledged.

It was just one more reason to rest Ohtani now, and give him a true All-Star break to deal with a knee injury that the team is hoping it can put in the past once and for all.

“It was just more of, ‘OK, if we have a potential opportunity to nip this, let’s do it, and let’s not try to add to it,’” Roberts said.