“I just think like anything, I think that you should always leave some margin, a crack in the door for any possibility, right? If things line up and there’s a need and the game, his body, everything’s telling us that it makes sense in that situation, great, and it would be storybook,” Roberts said. “But I think that to kind of count on that, bet on that, I think that’s an unfair kind of way to go about it. But Shohei’s on board, which is continuing his rehab process, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have an eye on that and we’ll just see how it plays out.”
Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote about the topic for a piece posted on Thursday, arguing that Ohtani pitching in the playoffs “could happen” and even “should happen.”
“This being Hollywood and this being Ohtani, how cool would it be if it really did happen?” Plaschke wrote. “The Dodgers have spent all summer saying Ohtani will not pitch this season while rehabbing from elbow surgery, but that rehab should soon end, just in time for his team to encounter an inning that requires three outs to win a series or a ring.”
The longtime sports journalist argued that by the time the tournament starts, the former AL Rookie of the Year should be “ready to pitch competitively,” as he’s slated to face Dodgers hitters “sometime during these final weeks of the season.”
While Plaschke admitted that there wasn’t ample time to get Ohtani ready to serve as a starter this fall, “barring a major setback, physically he should enter October in a position to record the occasional three outs.”
“There are countless reasons not to pitch Ohtani in the postseason, but none are as important as the single reason why you should,” Plaschke wrote.
Per the report, Roberts said the team was going to be extra cautious. The Dodgers, after all, committed 10 years and $700M to the Japanese sensation over the offseason.
“If I was scripting a movie or writing a book, it would be a no-brainer that he comes out of rehabilitation and throws the last pitch,” Roberts said. “The problem is, in reality, he hasn’t thrown a leverage pitch in over a year. If he were to come out and it does go awry, it’s not worth potential injury. You just cannot duplicate the stress of that one inning. I just don’t think it’s worth it.”
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman added that Ohtani possibly pitching in October was “nowhere near (the) front of mind” for the organization.
At this point, it still seems unlikely that Ohtani will be pitching for Los Angeles during the playoffs, but the door is evidently a crack open for what would be a true Hollywood ending.