CINCINNATI -- Shohei Ohtani resumed swinging on Tuesday for the first time since landing on the 15-day injured list last week, manager Dave Roberts said before the Dodgers' game against the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
Ohtani is not on the road with the Dodgers, but he hit off a tee in L.A. and came away feeling good afterward, Roberts said. It was Ohtani's first time swinging since his lingering right biceps and left knee injuries led him to be shut down starting last Wednesday.
"I don't know what's in store for tomorrow, but I know that there's going to be a consistent buildup," Roberts said. "Don't know when the time of return to play is, but today was positive, and hopefully we can just keep building towards that."
Ohtani's 15-day IL placement is backdated to Sept. 8, meaning that the earliest he can be activated is Sept. 23, with five regular-season games remaining for the Dodgers. Roberts believes that Ohtani will be back in action before the end of the regular season.
"Whether it happens or not is to be determined, but I do expect him to be back to play in some regular-season games," Roberts said. "Don't know how many of them."
In his last 24 games, a span that coincided with an attempt to ramp up as a pitcher, Ohtani hit .198 (19-for-96) with a .690 OPS and 34 strikeouts. Toward the end of that stretch, he began to look physically compromised at the plate, leading the Dodgers to leave him out of the lineup for four straight games. He returned to the lineup on Sept. 7 but did not come away from that game feeling good.
At that point, the Dodgers opted to place Ohtani on the IL with the aim of getting him right for the postseason. He will return only as a hitter, with his two-way duties shelved until 2027.
The Dodgers have fared well without their best hitter, entering Tuesday having won nine of the 11 games they played since Ohtani was first held out of the lineup on Sept. 3. They clinched their record-tying 14th consecutive postseason berth on Monday and are close to winning their 13th NL West title in that span, all while remaining in position to secure a first-round bye.
The understanding is that Ohtani will probably not feel 100 percent in the postseason, but he'll use the weeks ahead to feel as good as he can, both physically and with his swing. While the Dodgers have gotten by without him, they know they'll need whatever they can get from him as they bid for a three-peat.