Los Angeles Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani will play in Game 3 of the World Series after appearing to hurt his shoulder in Saturday’s win over the New York Yankees.
Manager Dave Roberts confirmed the good news for the Dodgers on Sunday, telling reporters that Ohtani is “in a great position and will play Game 3 tomorrow.”
Ohtani partially dislocated his shoulder when he was thrown out while trying to steal second base in the seventh inning of Saturday’s victory.
He clutched his left forearm after being tagged by shortstop Anthony Volpe for the final out of the inning on a feet-first slide. He was near the bag for a couple of minutes before being attended to by trainers and leaving the field.
After Los Angeles improved its series lead to 2-0, a social media account that provides English-language reporting on Japanese baseball revealed the Dodgers star’s exchange with translators and coaches.
Los Angeles Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani will play in Game 3 despite his injury.
Ohtani Ohtani is helped off the field after being injured during the seventh inning of Game 2.
“Shoulder,” Ohtani said as he leaned back in the frame, as quoted in the Yakyu Cosmopolitan X account.
‘Actually?’ the translator asked. ‘Which?’
“To the left,” Ohtani said.
When asked if his arm came out of his shoulder socket, Ohtani is quoted as saying, “I think so.”
The Japanese slugger, and presumed National League Most Valuable Player, went 0 for 3 with a walk in the game. He is 1 for 8 in the first two games of the Fall Classic and is hitting .260 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in his first postseason in the majors.
‘That was hard. You never like to see the best player in the game get hurt like that,” said Yankees superstar Aaron Judge. ‘They try to steal a base like that there, and something like that happens. But hopefully it’s all good news. We’ll see what happens.’
Ohtani had been one of the few players on the Dodgers roster to make it through the season without suffering a major injury. The pitching staff has been beset by injuries, with nearly every member of the starting rotation spending time on the disabled list.
Among position players, Mookie Betts was out for nearly two months with a broken left hand, and Max Muncy was out nearly half the season with a right oblique strain. Freddie Freeman is playing in the postseason with a severely sprained right ankle.