What did Blue Jays want to know about Ohtani's warm-up timing?
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Some familiar tensions arose in Wednesday's rematch of last year's World Series at Rogers Centre, as the Blue Jays again had questions about pitch warm-up time granted to Dodgers starter Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani, who ended the top of the first inning of Toronto's eventual 4-3 win on base after drawing a leadoff walk, didn't throw his first warm-up pitches in the bottom of the first until there was less than a minute left on the two-minute between-innings timer, leading to Blue Jays leadoff hitter George Springer speaking to home-plate umpire Dan Bellino.
According to a report from Ken Rosenthal on "Foul Territory" on Thursday, Springer was just seeking clarification about how much time Ohtani was going to be allowed, not raising a complaint.
It was reminiscent of a moment from the 2025 World Series, when the TV broadcast showed Blue Jays manager John Schneider expressing frustration about Ohtani being granted extended time to warm up for the bottom of the third inning after he made the last out of the previous half-inning.
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Per the official MLB rules, pitchers are permitted as many warmup pitches as desired within the two-minute interval between half-innings.
Although the interval period does not change, when the two-minute timer starts does vary depending on the situation – specifically if the final out of the inning had been subject to replay, or if either the pitcher or catcher was on base, on deck or at-bat to end the inning. As Ohtani had been on base to end the top of the first on Wednesday, his warmup timer would have started when he left the dugout to take the mound between innings. However, because the exact timing is ultimately up to the umpire’s discretion, most will grant a pitcher an even more generous grace period, as happened during Ohtani’s start in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.
Given that Ohtani is the only active two-way player in the Majors, the exception made for him is undoubtedly more glaring to opposing teams.
“Yeah, if you’re on the other side, you’re trying to rush him as much as possible and treat him like any other pitcher,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Wednesday’s game. “But the truth is that he’s different. But I understand their gripe.”