Shohei Ohtani‘s troublesome left knee continues to limit his mound work, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including MLB.com’s Sonja Chen) today that Ohtani won’t make his scheduled start on Wednesday against the Phillies. Ohtani will continue his regular DH duties, but it isn’t clear when he’ll be back pitching.
“Where we’re at right now, how we’re proceeding, I would say that it’s going to be some time. I’d say that it’s not going to be a day-to-day thing,” Roberts said. The skipper did state that Ohtani would pitch again this season, and that the decision is somewhat precautionary.
“Honestly, a lot of it is where we’re at and how we’ve put ourselves in a good spot,” Roberts said, referring to how Los Angeles is cruising towards another NL West title. “Could he probably do it? Sure. But right now, the benefits just [don’t] seem to outweigh the cost at this time of the season. So I think we still have plenty of time to get him to a good spot to then pitch.”
Ohtani’s last game as a pitcher was on July 3, when he allowed three earned runs over six innings in the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over the Padres. Ohtani has a 4.38 ERA in his last 24 2/3 innings pitched, which may reflect his knee irritation or perhaps just some natural regression from the otherworldly 0.74 ERA Ohtani posted in his first 10 starts and 61 frames. The Dodgers held Ohtani out of his last scheduled start before the All-Star break and he skipped the All-Star Game itself to give himself more rest, while getting a lubricating Orthovisc shot in his knee.
After a UCL surgery kept him from pitching at all in 2024, Ohtani posted a 2.87 ERA over 47 regular-season innings as a pitcher in 2025, and he then added 20 1/3 more pitching innings during the playoffs. The Dodgers have been careful in managing Ohtani’s rest all year, giving him some off-days from the DH role on starting days or either before or after his starts.
As always, the Dodgers’ focus is on keeping Ohtani (and all of their injured players) healthy for October. In Ohtani’s particular case, the Dodgers certainly don’t want to push him and risk any sort of injury that would also limit his ability to hit. The knee problem doesn’t appear to be slowing down Ohtani’s bat, and he had two hits in the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the Yankees today in the first game of a doubleheader.
Los Angeles has dealt with a mountain of injuries over the last few years, yet those losses haven’t impacted the Dodgers’ success due to the depth of talent on both the big league roster and in the farm system. Even now, with Ohtani unavailable to pitch and both Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow on the 60-day injured list, L.A. still has Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Justin Wrobleski, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, and Eric Lauer in the rotation.
Between these arms and a playoff ticket all but assured, Los Angeles can afford to give Ohtani, Snell, and Glasnow all the time they need over the rest of the regular season. Trading for at least another depth starter is also a possibility, if the Dodgers’ concern about their rotation health grows between now and the August 3 trade deadline.
