Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Was Ready to Pitch Last October, Broadcaster Says

Ohtani didn't appear in a game last October, but perhaps he could have. The Dodgers didn't need to make a roster move to make room for Ohtani on their pitching staff for the NLDS; he was already on the roster as a DH.

In an interview last week with Carlos Baerga, Dodgers broadcaster (and former pitcher) Orel Hershiser said Ohtani was ready to pitch in a game.

“I think he was ready to pitch in the 2024 World Series,” Hershiser said of Ohtani.

Whether or not Ohtani was able to get hitters out in the postseason is something the Dodgers had to decide for themselves. We already know what they decided. (Spoiler alert!) Not only was Ohtani limited to DH duties last fall, he still hasn't taken the mound in a game more than five months later.

In the aftermath of the Dodgers' World Series victory over the New York Yankees, Friedman told reporters (including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post) how the timeline for Ohtani's throwing program did (or didn't) line up with a return to pitching last October.

“The big thing for us was figuring out — because absent the baseball calendar and what’s happening and us playing in October, that would have been the time in his rehab progression to start on live [batting practices], kind of like January for healthy pitchers who are getting ready for spring training,” Friedman said. “So the question was, okay, as we’re playing these intense games, do we layer that part on right now? Do we wait? It was much more the question than him actually pitching in these games.”

The question is a different one now. The only thing holding back Ohtani from pitching is not the intensity of the games, or even the readiness of his right arm, but the calendar.

If the Dodgers want him to be an option to pitch in October, four months from now, they might be wary of starting the clock on his season now.