Shohei Ohtani has been stuck on the bench for four straight nights, nursing an injured left knee and a balky right biceps. The big question looming over the Dodgers, and really, the entire league, is whether their superstar is headed to the injured list.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Something’s Off
Dude, something’s seriously not right with Ohtani. Those injuries, the knee and biceps, have kept him off the mound since July 3rd. But for a while, it felt like his offense was bulletproof, right? We saw him slash a ridiculous .309/.366/.626 with eleven homers and nine doubles in the first 35 games after he stopped pitching. But then, it just fell apart. Since that two-homer game in Denver against the Rockies, a 13-game stretch, his slash line has tanked to a miserable .137/.290/.255 with just one double, triple, and homer. On Wednesday night, he struck out four times against the Cardinals, dragging his batting average down to .279, his lowest since May 30th. It wasn’t just the punchouts, it was how he looked. This is the guy who unleashes ferocious swings, pure power, and he looked overmatched, off-balance, diminished. Not 100%, not even close.
The Pitching Dream Is Dead, But So Is The Batting Magic
Remember that throwing program he started last month, trying to get back on the mound? Yeah, that got shut down fast when the knee pain flared up again. Manager Dave Roberts didn’t mince words, saying, “if any pitcher was feeling like this, we wouldn’t run him out there,” so they sure aren’t running their $700 million star out there. The hope was that once the pitching dream, and all the intense training that goes with it, was off the table, Ohtani would get back to tearing it up at the plate. But no. The Dodgers’ offense has been in a funk for over a month now, and Ohtani’s supposed hitting resurgence hasn’t materialized. He’s only got two singles since then, clocked at a paltry 66-mph and 78-mph. That’s a world away from the 100-mph+ rockets we’re used to. His average exit velocity is still elite at 93.2-mph, 97th percentile, but those recent numbers are screaming trouble.
Roberts gave Ohtani a long weekend off, Thursday through Sunday, for some much-needed rest. He’s trying to manage this, saying he’s “hopeful, but I wouldn’t say confident” that Ohtani will avoid the injured list. The plan is to reassess in a few days. The Dodgers desperately need their four-time MVP back in that lineup, and they need him to be the old Ohtani. Even with their offense scoring at least five runs in five of their last six games, they just needed a two-out, two-run double from Teoscar Hernández in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday night to get their second and third runs. This team needs its star.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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