The Dodgers announced that Shohei Ohtani will not be making his start as scheduled this evening due to irritation in his left knee. He will continue to serve as the designated hitter through this weekend series but then will “have some interventions” on the knee to set him up for the second half. As a result, he will not travel to Philadelphia to participate in next week’s All-Star Game. Per Jack Harris of the California Post, Ohtani will not have surgery. He will be getting his knee drained and will likely receive an injection of some kind.
It’s an ominous update for the best player alive. Ohtani has been dealing with this knee issue for a while. He had surgery on the knee in September of 2019, then a member of the Angels. This year’s problems date back about a month, if not longer. On June 11, he was removed from the game with inflammation in that knee, per Harris. Imaging came back clean, per Harris, but he was kept out of the next day’s lineup. He was back in the lineup the next day and made his next start on June 17.
Evidently, the knee has gotten worse recently, as Ohtani won’t start tonight. The club will do a bullpen game instead, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. In the short term, it’s a bummer for fans, both of the Dodgers and fans of baseball in general. Ohtani is the game’s biggest star and he will be missing the midsummer festivities next week. For the club, it would obviously be bad to miss Ohtani for any amount of time, given his immense talents.
Presumably, the Dodgers wouldn’t let him DH for the next few days if there were grave concerns. The club is generally very cautious with its injured players. The strength of the team allows them to prioritize long-term health over a quick return to the field. Whenever one of their players is rehabbing, the Dodgers would prefer they get fully healthy for the playoffs, as opposed to rushing back for regular season games.
It seems there may even be a chance Ohtani doesn’t really miss much time at all. Per Harris, it’s possible he could resume both hitting and pitching after the All-Star Break. That would obviously be a tremendous break for the club, but it will depend on how Ohtani responds to the treatment. If there’s any lingering concern, the club will presumably play things cautiously.
Going forward, it will be a situation to monitor. Even though the injury seems minor, Ohtani’s importance as a player is so large that any potential issue will be magnified, especially as the playoffs get closer.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
