What did Shohei Ohtani say about his potentially serious injury during Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night?
Ohtani was seen gingerly holding his left arm after being caught stealing in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the New York Yankees. Now, after LA improved its series lead to 2-0, a social media account that offers English-language reporting on Japanese baseball has revealed the Dodgers sensation’s exchange with translators and trainers.
‘Shoulder,’ Ohtani said as he laid in the infield, as quoted on the Yakyu Cosmopolitan X account.
‘Really?’ the translator asked. ‘Which one?’
‘Left,’ Ohtani said.
When asked if his armed popped out of his shoulder socket, Ohtani is quoted as saying: ‘I think so.’
Ohtani partially dislocated his left shoulder, according to subsequent reports. His status for Monday’s Game 3 in New York is unclear. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani ‘had a little left shoulder subluxation’ and would get image testing either Saturday night or Sunday.
‘We’ll know more in the next couple days,’ Roberts said. ‘The strength was great. The range of motion good. So we’re encouraged. But obviously I can’t speculate because we don’t get the scans yet. So once we get the scans, we’ll know more. Again, with the strength, the range of motion good, that’s certainly a positive.’
The Japanese slugger — and presumptive National League MVP — was 0 for 3 with a walk in the game. He is 1 for 8 in the first two games of the Fall Classic and is batting .260 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in his first postseason in the majors.
‘That was tough. You never like seeing the best player in the game get injured like that,’ Yankees superstar Aaron Judge said. ‘Trying to steal a base like that there, and something like that happens. But hopefully it’s all good news. We’ll see what happens.’
Ohtani had been one of the few players on the Dodgers roster who got through the season without a major injury. The pitching staff has been beset by injuries, with nearly every member of the starting rotation spending time on the injured list.
Among the position players, Mookie Betts was out for nearly two months due to a broken left hand, and Max Muncy was out nearly half the season due to a right oblique strain. Freddie Freeman is playing in the postseason with a badly sprained right ankle.
Betts is optimistic about the Dodgers persevering if Ohtani is sidelined, especially after the team overcame its injuries while earning the most wins in the majors during the regular season and reaching the World Series for the fourth time in eight seasons.
‘We’ve got a great group of guys in here and I believe we can take care of business for sure. I believe in us all,’ Betts said.
Most of Ohtani’s injuries since coming to the majors in 2018 have been pitching-related, including major operations on his right elbow in 2018 and last year. The two-way phenomenon has not pitched this year but became the first player in major league history with at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season.
In September 2019, he had surgery on his left kneecap due to a rare condition. The procedure was on his bipartite patella, or a two-part kneecap that didn’t fuse together at birth.
Ohtani missed the 2017 World Baseball Classic after having ankle surgery because of an injury he suffered during the 2016 Japan Series.
‘When you have a group like this, they picked me up when I have been down. We’ll try to do the same for him,’ Freeman said.
