The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a scare during Game 2 of the World Series when Shohei Ohtani injured his shoulder while attempting to steal second base in the seventh inning.
The two-way star was in noticeable pain, which put a damper on the team’s 4-2 win over the New York Yankees. It turned out that Ohtani partially dislocated his shoulder, which is similar to the injury Cody Bellinger played through in the 2020 World Series.
While the severity of Ohtani’s injury wasn’t immediately known, he helped ease some concerns after the game.
Ohtani sent a text message to his teammates comparing his situation to Bellinger’s in 2020 and vowed to be ready for Game 3, via ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
“Nice game, guys,” Ohtani wrote. “Last time, Bellinger’s shoulder was dislocated. This time, my shoulder was dislocated. This is a good sign for a world champion.”
Bellinger managed to play in all six World Series games after dislocating his right shoulder before eventually undergoing offseason surgery. For Ohtani, it isn’t yet clear if he will need an operation at the end of the season.
Although there was external questions over Ohtani’s availability moving forward, that didn’t reach the Dodgers clubhouse.
“He texted the whole team as we were on our way to the airport and said he was going to be fine, and that’s it,” Max Muncy said earlier this week.
“He said he was going to play, so we all put it to the side at that moment. We said, all right, he’s got us. We’ll be ready for him to be in the lineup.”
Muncy added that Ohtani sent the message on his own and not through translator Will Ireton.
“Will is not in our group chat,” Muncy said. “That group chat is for us. That’s for the players. What’s in there is for the players. It was all Sho.”
Dave Roberts wishes he saw Shohei Ohtani’s text message
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had expressed optimism with Ohtani’s condition but joked that he wished he was included in the text thread.
“I wasn’t, and it would have been helpful if I saw that thread,” Roberts said. “I would have slept better Saturday night. I wasn’t privy to that until today, so that would have been helpful.”
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