Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani will not be making his return to the mound on Sunday after all. Ohtani was initially expected to start in the series finale against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. However, he told the team's training staff he did not feel fully healthy after his bullpen session on Friday.
Ohtani's scheduled start for Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals has also been scratched, according to The Athletic's Katie Woo. Tyler Glasnow will reportedly start on Sunday in Ohtani's place.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Ohtani is still dealing with left knee and right bicep issues. He also admitted that he is not sure Ohtani will be fully healthy before the end of the season. "To be quite frank, I just don't see everything getting to 100% by the end of the season," Roberts said, per MLB.
"But there's a lot of pitchers that are not 100% and still viable. So again, it's just not an exact science." According to Woo, the Dodgers are waiting until they return to Los Angeles for the series against the Cardinals to decide whether or not to shut Ohtani down as a pitcher. Ohtani has not pitched since July 3 against the San Diego Padres.
"That's the hard part right now," Roberts said, "is trying to figure out if he's not 100%, overall body, is it worth giving him an inning to build up or not? So I think that that's kind of where we're at right now, trying to weigh the positives and negatives." Despite the setbacks preventing his return to pitching, Ohtani will remain in the Dodgers' lineup as the designated hitter.
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