The Los Angeles Dodgers’ season is set to break several records with dominance on both offense and defense, where their star Shohei Ohtani is expected to participate in both ways, although on the mound they are still taking the process slowly.
Ohtani was projected from the preseason to pitch for the Dodgers for the first time sometime in May and the process is on track, after he had his second bullpen session with 26 pitches on Saturday, prior to the game in which the California nine avenged themselves on the Philadelphia Phillies, after Friday’s unbeaten streak was snatched from them, to win 3-1, in a game in which Japanese Roki Sasaki went without a decision after pitching four innings, and the win went to reliever Anthony Banda with one inning of work.
Ohtani is on track to recover from right elbow surgery in September 2023 that sidelined him for the entire 2024 season, but manager Dave Roberts is beginning to lay the groundwork for his return.
“It’s one week, but there’s also the middle week, where he takes the mound on a Thursday,” Dave Roberts said of the strategy to get Ohtani back and added, “I think it’s more about trying to keep him on a similar seven-day schedule, and see what the schedule would be like coming out, and build from there.”
Ohtani will cause a six-man rotation for the Dodgers
Once Ohtani is ready to pitch, the Dodgers will be able to implement the plan of a six-man rotation, with which they intend to take care of injuries to their players, who have had an outstanding performance with only one loss that was the responsibility of Japanese Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who with a six-inning effort, left the game down 1-0 against the Phillies.
In addition to Yamamoto, the Dodgers rotation includes two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki, who has struggled in his first few games, but is in a learning process towards his consolidation.
Dave Roberts has Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin as other reliable starters, while he gets veteran Clayton Kershaw back, so when Ohtani is ready, there should be no problems for the six-man rotation.
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