Ohtani starts winner-take-all Game 7 for defending champion Dodgers

TORONTO -- Having forced a winner-take-all Game 7 in the World Series, the Dodgers are handing the ball to their two-way superstar.

Shohei Ohtani will start on the mound for the Dodgers, opposite the Blue Jays' Max Scherzer, in Saturday night's Fall Classic finale at Rogers Centre. He will likely be followed in bulk by Tyler Glasnow, who appeared in Game 6 but threw only three pitches to secure his first career save, thanks to a wild game-ending double play.

This year, Ohtani has pitched on no fewer than five days of rest, and often more than that. But this is the last game of the season and the most important one to win. The Dodgers have all the confidence that Ohtani will set the tone, both on the mound and from the leadoff spot.

"I expect him to show well," manager Dave Roberts said. "I just don't know how long, but we got to wait and see how it looks, and then if he's rolling, he's going to keep pitching."

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Immediately following his first World Series start on the mound, in which he allowed four runs across six-plus innings during Game 4 in L.A., Ohtani was preparing to pitch again. While that could have meant he was available out of the 'pen, the two-way player rule is more favorable for starters: Ohtani can remain in the game as the designated hitter after his start on the mound ends, but the Dodgers would forfeit their DH if Ohtani entered in relief and did not finish the game on the mound.

Since the Dodgers were planning on using Ohtani during Game 7, it makes the most sense to use him on the front end. Since Ohtani started Game 4, he may only be able to cover two or three innings -- depending on how efficient he is -- similar to the multi-inning opener role he filled in his regimented return to pitching earlier this year.

"As far as innings, not sure," Roberts said. "It depends how he comes out, how he looks, how he's throwing, how he's feeling. So I just kind of want to withhold expectation and kind of read and react."

Ohtani will be working on three days' rest for only the second time in his big league career. The only other time he's pitched on so little rest -- in April 2023 -- was a result of the first start being shortened by a rain delay after he had thrown two innings on 31 pitches. (He struck out 11 Royals over seven scoreless innings in the second start.)

Beyond Ohtani and Glasnow, every pitcher should be available -- possibly even Game 6 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roberts said. That includes starter Blake Snell, whose worst performances this postseason have come against the Blue Jays (five earned runs apiece in Games 1 and 5), and closer Roki Sasaki, who wasn't terribly sharp while throwing 33 pitches in Game 6 but is arguably still the Dodgers' best lockdown arm.