The Los Angeles Dodgers are trying to calm concerns about Shohei Ohtani after the team finally opted to place him on the injured list Wednesday.
The Dodgers confirmed that Ohtani would go on the 15-day IL Wednesday after he did not play in the team’s blowout won over the Cincinnati Reds. Ohtani is battling injuries to his left knee and right biceps, and has been for the better part of two months.
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts insisted that Ohtani’s IL placement was a precaution, and that he would continue to play through the injuries if the playoffs had started.
“If it were a postseason game tomorrow, he would be in the lineup,” Roberts said, via Sonja Chen of MLB.com. “So I think that now you’re talking about two weeks, 14 days, I feel that that’s substantial, and he’ll be in a much better place than he was today.”
Ohtani has not played in six of the Dodgers’ last seven games, which the team had hoped would help him improve physically. However, he complained of pain in his bicep after going 0-for-3 in Monday’s game, and the team elected to shut him down again.
Ohtani has already effectively given up on pitching again this season. At this point, the Dodgers would settle for just getting him back as a hitter before October.
The reigning MVP has hit .277 with 30 home runs in 130 games this season despite battling through multiple injuries.
