Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Being up 2-0 in the World Series is always good. Always.
Having said that, this kinda sucks!
Shohei Ohtani suffered a left shoulder subluxation — partial dislocation — on his 7th-inning stolen base attempt in Game 2. The play looked harmless and something he had done 64 other times prior without issue, but this time, he just hit the ground wrong and suffered the injury. The prognosis for such an injury can be anywhere from 2-6 weeks of recovery time, but the severity is still to be determined and could impact the recovery time in either direction.
I was thinking to myself while watching the game, “This is the least stressful 4-1 World Series game I can remember,” then the wheels came off with the Ohtani injury and Blake Treinen doing his best to raise Los Angeles’ collective blood pressure in the ninth inning.
I suppose it wouldn’t be this Dodger season without another injury, even if there’s as many as five games remaining. And we thought not having Evan Phillips was going to be Dave Roberts‘ biggest obstacle in this series.
The MRI results will determine everything with Ohtani going forward. The Dodgers and Ohtani will not only have to determine if he’s OK to continue playing now, but also if there’s any risk of long-term damage, thus making it much more difficult for him to finish out this World Series. If there’s any potential risk for his future, they’ll probably shelve him. We’ve seen shoulder injuries sap the power of many a power-hitter — even in Dodger history.
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When Dodger fans heard “shoulder injury,” we immediately thought of this moment from Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS.
Cody Bellinger went onto hit a home run in Game 1 of the 2020 World Series, but he ended up going just 3-for-24 in the Series overall.
His case is a little different because he wasn’t at the top of his game before the injury. He previously injured the same shoulder in on May 4, 2019 while playing first base, so when he dislocated it on the celebration in Game 7, it wasn’t the first time. He had surgery to repair it shortly after the Dodgers won the World Series, but he hadn’t really been the same initially dislocating it.
| Metric | Before 05.04.19 | After 05.04.19 |
| Exit Velocity (MPH) | 90.1 | 88.3 |
| Max Exit Velo | 112.8 | 109.2 |
| HardHit% | 41.4 | 33.9 |
| Distance (ft.) | 192 | 181 |
A noticeable difference for sure. I’m not saying this will happen with Ohtani — he is a unicorn, after all — but I’m sure this (and many other considerations) is something the Dodgers will have in mind when making a decision about Ohtani’s status for the rest of the World Series. The Dodgers can win without him, it’ll just be a little more difficult than it already has been.
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Being up 2-0 in the series makes this feel not as dire, but it’s far from ideal. If Ohtani has to miss the rest of the World Series, Kevin Kiermaier — who was on the NLCS roster — is the most likely replacement for Ohtani. He would give the Dodgers another left-handed bat and a premium defender in center field for the later innings when Teoscar Hernandez is lifted (with Enrique Hernandez, likely, sliding over to left).
There’s never a good time for Shohei Ohtani to get hurt. But if it had to happen, it could have been worse timing. Either that or maybe he’s actually not of this world and will be in the lineup for Game 3 and beyond. Today will be a stressful day as we wait for updates.
