Shohei Ohtani is slated to start Game 7 on the mound tonight. The two-way star will be pitching on three days’ rest after tossing six innings in Game 4 on Tuesday. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, that he’s “not sure” how long Ohtani will pitch. Roberts added that he wants to “withhold expectations and kind of read and react.”
After tearing his left shoulder labrum in the 2024 World Series, Ohtani was brought along slowly as a pitcher this season. He didn’t make his first appearance on the mound until mid-June. Since he’s a crucial part of the offense, Ohtani couldn’t take a few weeks off to go on a rehab assignment. Instead, he had to build back up at the major-league level. Ohtani tossed a single inning in each of his first two appearances. He eventually built up to three innings by the end of July. Ohtani made it through five innings in his final start of August, then capped off his regular season with his first six-inning outing.
Ohtani has had at least five days of rest between every pitching outing this season. The spread-out postseason schedule (along with LA’s success) has afforded him even more time off. Ohtani had 12 days between his NLDS and NLCS starts, then another 10 days until his first World Series outing.
While the workload has been a question for Ohtani, performance has not. He posted a 2.87 ERA across 47 innings in the regular season, and his xFIP (2.45) and SIERA (2.67) were even better. Ohtani rattled off three straight scoreless starts heading into the playoffs. He then posted quality starts in the NLDS and NLCS, winning both games. Toronto did get to Ohtani for four earned runs in Game 3, though he had six strikeouts and went six innings yet again.
Game 7s are typically all-hands-on-deck situations for the pitching staffs. Could that possibly include Yoshinobu Yamamoto? A video from Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times surfaced of the Game 6 victor throwing ahead of tonight’s game. Yamamoto wasn’t expected to be available tonight, but Roberts was asked about his status for Game 7. “He’s definitely interested,” Roberts told reporters, including Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.
Yamamoto followed his dominant complete game in Game 2 with another sterling effort on Friday. He allowed just one earned run over six innings, throwing 96 pitches. Yamamoto now has a 1.56 ERA over 34 2/3 innings this postseason. He would be in the World Series MVP conversation if it weren’t for Ohtani’s impressive contributions. While Yamamoto seems ready to go 2001 Randy Johnson, he’s probably pretty deep on the depth chart tonight. Roberts only had to use relievers Roki Sasaki and Justin Wrobleski in Game 6, plus an inning from starter Tyler Glasnow, though he only threw three pitches. Every other pitcher, including Game 5 starter Blake Snell, has had at least a couple of days off.
Roberts is largely running back the same lineup tonight, outside of flip-flopping Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez. That means Mookie Betts is back in the cleanup spot. Roberts bumped the scuffling Betts from second to third in the order for Game 5, then moved him to fourth for Game 6. The move paid off, as Betts came through with the biggest hit of the game. With the bases loaded and two outs in the third inning, the shortstop lined a Kevin Gausman fastball through the left side, knocking in a pair of runs. Betts had been 3-for-24 in the series prior to the single. It was his first RBI since Game 3 of the NLCS.
Muncy will move up to fifth in the order for the second time this series. Both instances have come against Max Scherzer. While righties got on at a higher clip against Scherzer this season, lefties had far more power. The veteran yielded 13 home runs and a hefty .545 slugging percentage in 200 plate appearances against left-handed hitters. The lineup adjustment will allow Muncy to get an earlier look at Scherzer.
This should be fun!
Dodgers on the ropes!
Anyone else wondering why Fox has the biggest sports star in the world up to bat opening the top of the 7th inning in game 7 of the World Series and Fox can’t cut their commercials until the 2-0 pitch is halfway to the plate and Smoltz is already almost finished with his Yesavage speech?
Love Rojas, he had one of the best 0-3 games you can have last night thanks to the glove. Could be his last game as a Dodger with Freeland in the wings
Back of his baseball card will never tell his story correctly
Glad to see him in the lineup
Wouldn’t be surprised to see him subtly have a major effect on this game as well in some capacity
I think his defense is exactly why Roberts said in the post game that Rojas would be in the lineup tonight.
Might Ro is more of a contact hitter too. On some plays he doesn’t even need a glove.
Rojas is under contract for one more year and there is no way the Dodgers cut him.
Rojas is retiring after the season.
No, he said he is retiring after 2026.
@ crunch
Does Hitting hr in 9th inning down by a run count as having major effect?
I mean, not the worst thing.
I’d say, with a Dodgers win tonight, Yoshi is more in the conversation for MVP than the writer thinks!
Aces closing out the World Series is always fun. It would make for a historic postseason for him
This is going to be a very exciting game.
Game 7.
Winner take all.
Clayton Kershaw’s last game in uniform.
Mad Max starting for the Blue Jays after giving up 6 homers and 16 runs in his last 15.2 innings.
Yamamoto or Yesavage for MVP over Ohtani and Guerrero?
Its hard to not pick Ohtani after that 3 HR / 2 2B performance he had during that wild marathon game..
“Only” two home runs in that game, arguably Klein was MVP of 18 innings game.
But I get your point.
Yamamoto just entered the game. Amazing!
Go Jays !
“He would be in the World Series MVP conversation if it weren’t for Ohtani’s impressive contributions.”
Ohtani has 3 hits in 18 ABs outside of Game 3, and currently has a 6.00 ERA and 0-1 record in the WS as a pitcher. He can stake a claim to the MVP with a good performance tonight, but right now it’s gotta be Yamamoto, similar to Strasburg in 2019.
Throw Yamamoto again to start and silence the Jays bats again. Problem solved.
Scherzer and Verlander both pitched well enough this year, that if they wanna pitch next year, surely they will find a one year deal somewhere, but it would be kinda cool for us baseball fans, if they, along with Kershaw, all called it after the season. The three best pitchers of their generation going into Cooperstown together would be a cool day.
Verlander kind of strikes me as the kind of guy who won’t retire until there aren’t any more major league offers coming his way.
I definitely don’t see him retiring. And I agree with you. Could really see him trying to go 2-3 more, depending on how next year goes. Obviously, Kershaw is, and I don’t know which way Max would be leaning. A title tonight might be the icing for him.
He ought to retire before Kate eyes the pool boy.
This is it. It’s all hands on deck for pitchers and I expect most of them will be tossing warmups and tracked in Rogers’ underground bullpens.
Unclear how Ohtani’s left shoulder injury last year is connected to his slow ramp-up to pitching this year.
im not a betting man
not like rozier, billups, or shohei
but if i was, i ‘d put my $ on the tm in blue winning tonite
My universal translator says chandlerbing equals “troll”.
An awful troll at that. Insufferable too.
While it worked out for them last night, I am a little baffled as to why Yamamoto wasn’t allowed to go another inning. Was he that erratic? The only part of the game I actually got to watch was that last wild double play to end the game.
Ohtani Rose blew it! I just knew Bichette was going to big ala Kirk Gibson. Go Jays!!!!
It’s only the 4th inning. I know you can never stop thinking about the love of your life.
If George was still living Cashman would have been gone years ago.
So Ohtani is your rose? You realize he’s married with a kid, and dog, right?
Not sure where the dog comes in.
LA hitters are bunch of a**holes who do nothing but fly out and they deserve to lose. When the Jays don’t homer they line the ball or hit the ball on the ground the other way advancing runners. The Dodger hitters have a baseball IQ of 0.
Funny how you typed this and there hitters popped a couple homers to win the World Series.
Hahaha
The Dodgers are stuck with Mookie and his declining bat and bat speed until he’s 39. Another 6 years of Mookie popping out to an infielder.
What an exciting series. No matter who wins I’ll always remember this one. I’ve been jumping up and down from game 1-7. Mark also guaranteed this game would go past midnight local time when he said it would be settled on the first of November and then immediately his subconscious jumped in and said unless it goes to extras.