by Megan Garcia
On Saturday night, as the Dodgers made their way to the airport, their phones buzzed with a text message from Shohei Ohtani.
“He said he was going to be fine, and that’s it. He said he was going to play,” Max Muncy said. “We said, all right, he’s got us. We’ll be ready for him to be in the lineup.”
After Ohtani left Saturday’s game with a partially dislocated shoulder, he’ll be leading off in Game 3 of the World Series in New York.
“Watching him take swings last night in the cage looked really good, strong balls coming off the bat,” said manager Dave Roberts. “So I think that there was more uncertainty in all of our minds, but in his mind, from Saturday evening, he was going to play.”
Scans revealed no structural damage to Ohtani’s left shoulder, Roberts said. The shoulder was popped back into place Saturday. By Sunday, Ohtani was in his normal workout routine.
“When I saw him in the cage hitting balls 102 miles an hour off a tee, that was joy,” Roberts said. “So now it’s more of just kind of he’s in there and I’m just thinking about the game. I’m not really thinking about kind of where he’s at physically. He’s in the lineup, so that’s all I’m thinking about.”
When his teammates saw Ohtani stay on the ground and hold his arm, there was obvious concern. But just like they’ve done all season with a litany of other injuries — including to Mookie Betts and Muncy from the position player group — the Dodgers had their ‘next man up’ mentality ready to go in case he would be sidelined.
“He’s a really good player, don’t get me wrong on that,” said reliever Brent Honeywell. “But if he couldn’t have (gone) today, we have people that can.”
But for the Dodgers, it’s a sense of relief to have the designated hitter back in the leadoff spot.
“If you keep the best player in the game in the lineup, that’s usually good for your team,” Muncy said. “Having him in there obviously, it’s a big guy to have in there. It helps a lot. He’s had some big moments for us, and we’re obviously expecting a couple more big moments out of him.”
In two games of the World Series, Ohtani has gone 1-for-8.
World Series: Shohei Ohtani is in the Game 3 lineup after shoulder injury was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.