NEW YORK — If Shohei Ohtani can handle the pain, he will play in Game 3 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager Dave Roberts said Sunday night at Yankee Stadium that he expects Ohtani to play in Monday night’s Game 3 if the slugger and leadoff hitter can tolerate the discomfort two days after suffering a left shoulder subluxation in Game 2 on Saturday night.
‘If (Ohtani) feels good enough to go, I see no reason he won’t be in there,’ Roberts said Sunday night.
Ohtani flew separately from the team and was due to arrive in New York on Sunday evening, Roberts said, after undergoing tests on the shoulder in Los Angeles. The manager said hitting balls off a tee and taking batting practice in an indoor cage, ‘that’s going to be telling.
‘I think that he’s obviously very well aware of himself and his body.’
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
Following Saturday night’s game, Roberts sounded confident that Ohtani had avoided serious injury, but the Dodgers designated hitter had to go undergo further testing to confirm.
On Sunday, Roberts said Ohtani’s situation was not dissimilar to that of Cody Bellinger, who in 2020 suffered a shoulder dislocation while celebrating his go-ahead home run in the National League Championship Series. The shoulder was popped back into place and Bellinger played in the World Series.
Yet Ohtani’s situation is a little better than Bellinger’s: Ohtani hurt his left shoulder, and Bellinger his right. Since both are left-handed hitters, the strain is much greater on the right, lead arm.
Ohtani hurt his left shoulder sliding into second base on an attempted steal in the seventh inning of Game 2 and left the field with a trainer after lingering on the ground.
‘The whole stadium went silent,’ Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said.
The Dodgers hold a 2-0 lead in the World Series and Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) are set for Monday through Wednesday at Yankee Stadium in New York.
Perhaps Ohtani will not be at his best. But Roberts isn’t too concerned about that, especially given Ohtani’s outsized presence should he dig in against Yankees Game 3 starter Clarke Schmidt.
‘If he is able to play, willing to play, he’s going to play,’ says Roberts. ‘Schmidt will know that Shohei’s in the box, so that means everything.’
Signed for $700 million last winter, Ohtani became the first player in history with 50 home runs and 50 steals in a single season and will likely be the unanimous National League MVP. Playing in his first career postseason, the 30-year-old has three homers, 10 RBI and an .863 OPS in 13 games during Los Angeles’ playoff run.
He went 1-for-8 in the first two games of the World Series against the Yankees.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
