Ohtani’s Injury Casts Doubt Over Dodgers’ World Series Chances

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers are up 2-0 on the New York Yankees in the World Series, heading back to New York, but it hardly feels like that.

Saturday night’s 4-2 victory in Game 2 was shrouded by the image of a prone Shohei Ohtani writhing in pain at second base when he tried to steal during the seventh inning. Ohtani walked off the field favoring his left shoulder.

The mood in the Dodger dugout instantly changed.

“Not only in the dugout, but the whole stadium went silent,” said Teoscar Hernandez, whose third-inning home run ahead of Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers enough runs to win the game. “To know how big Shohei has been for us. Hopefully he will be OK.”

Ohtani suffered a subluxation of the shoulder, manager Dave Roberts said, meaning in layman’s terms that he had a partial dislocation of that joint.

Roberts said Ohtani will have an MRI Sunday during the off day before Game 3 at Yankee Stadium Monday night. His status for that game and the rest of the series, for that matter, is in question.

“We’ll know more in the next couple of days,” Roberts said. “But the strength was great, the range of motion was good. So we’re encouraged. I don’t want to speculate because we don’t have the scans yet. We’ll know more once we get them. But I take that as a positive.”

The Dodgers left immediately after the game to fly to New York. Ohtani was not made available for comment.

Ohtani is just one of two Japanese free agents the Dodgers signed in the offseason for a total of $1.025 billion. Ohtani signed for 10 years at $700 million with $680 million deferred. He had played his first six seasons in the U.S. for the Los Angeles Angels. The other was pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who came directly from Japan, signing a 12-year, $325 million deal.

Both players were a big part of the story Saturday night. Yamamoto pitched into the seventh inning, holding the Yankees to a run on a single hit, a Juan Soto homer with two out in the third inning. He retired the final 11 hitters he faced before Roberts pulled him with one out in the top of the seventh after Giancarlo Stanton popped to second base.

It was his longest outing since pitching seven innings on June 7 in a 3-1 win over the Yankees in New York. In his next start against Kansas City, he left with a sore right shoulder and didn’t return until Sept. 10. The Dodgers have been building him back up ever since.

“He hadn’t been this effective since the first Yankee game,” Roberts said. “I felt like this was a good building block game. He threw 87 pitches. We had a good foundation. I really wanted him to get Stanton, get one more hitter and touch that seventh inning.”

It was all good feelings and cheer going into the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers leading, 4-1. Yanks reliever Clay Holmes struck out Miguel Rojas to open the inning and then walked Ohtani, who inexplicably tried to steal second on the first pitch to Mookie Betts.

Ohtani, the first 50/50 player in MLB history during the regular season with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases, hasn’t swiped a base during the postseason. He slid awkwardly and tried to steady himself by jamming his left wrist into the turf. It was with that action the shoulder popped out of joint.

Roberts was asked if the steal attempt was ill-advised. He said Ohtani has a perpetual green light to steal on his own.

“He’s a pretty astute baserunner,” Roberts said. “He was trying to tack on another run in a World Series game. It was the right play, but sometimes baseball happens.”

Ohtani has had an injury-plagued career in Japan and with MLB. He’s had ankle problems, knee surgery and two Tommy John procedures on his right elbow to repair the ulnar ligament. He had the second one this past offseason and has rehabbed his pitching arm all season with the intent of getting back on the mound next spring.

The Dodgers have suffered numerous injuries to key players all season, but Ohtani, in the DH role, hasn’t been one of them. Until now. He played in a career-high 159 regular season games and in all 13 thus far in the playoffs.

Roberts was asked if he was prepared to play the rest of the World Series without Ohtani. That would be a blow to MLB’s international exposure as well as to LA’s chances of winning the Fall Classic for the first time after a full regular season since 1988.

“I’m not there yet,” Roberts said. “I expect him to be there. I’m expecting him to be in the lineup.”