Shohei Ohtani is still not back in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup as he now misses the series finale against the Washington Nationals. Sunday is Ohtani’s fourth consecutive game missed.
Prior to this current stretch, the superstar slugger had never been ou tof the Dodgers lineup for more than two games in a row. That occurred April 18-19, 2025, when Ohtani was placed on the paternity list for the birth of his first child.
Ohtani is now missing his fourth game in a row because of lingering left knee soreness, right bicep discomfort and a recent neck issue. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed Ohtani reported the neck trouble after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
That performance, which included unusual swings and Ohtani shaking his right arm, wound up serving as a breaking point of sorts.
“I saw the same thing that everyone saw,” Roberts said after the loss. “I saw the shaking of the arm, I saw the wincing, and clearly the swings aren’t who he is. Obviously there’s some compensation.”
Ohtani did start to make progress toward returning by taking swings in the batting cage on Saturday night. Roberts said that went well and he anticipates Ohtani making his return on Monday.
In addition to Ohtani still being out of the lineup, his return to pitching remains further uncertain. Roberts shared last week that Ohtani had stopped throwing plyo balls in addition to refraining from playing catch.
Is Shohei Ohtani going on the IL?
Sunday in some sense was a bit of a tipping point as it represented the final time the Dodgers could put Ohtani on the injured list without losing the games he already missed. MLB roster rules allow teams the possibility of backdating an IL stint for up to three days.
Roberts softened over the weekend in terms of possibly putting Ohtani on the injured list. However, because MLB rules dictate that a two-way player go on the 15-day IL instead of 10 days, Roberts admitted it was “more of a deterrent.”
He also downplayed the idea of Sunday needing to be when a decision was made.
“Yes, we would lose the three back days,” Roberts said. “But also there’s a chance we could almost be in bed with the idea whether it’s six, seven, eight days, it’s better than 10 days if he’s trending in the right direction. … To not lose him for 15 days is meaningful.”
Dodgers lineup without Ohtani
CF: Tommy Edman
SS: Mookie Betts
C: Will Smith
1B: Freddie Freeman
LF: Teoscar Hernández
RF: Kyle Tucker
2B: Miguel Rojas
DH: Max Muncy
3B: Kiké Hernández
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