LOS ANGELES -- While the Dodgers remain optimistic that Shohei Ohtani will avoid the injured list, manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that an IL stint could be more of a possibility if the two-way superstar continues to miss time.
Ohtani remained out of the Dodgers' starting lineup for Friday night's series opener against the Nationals as he continues to deal with nagging physical concerns. It is the first time this season that Ohtani has not started back-to-back games (earlier this season, he got a two-game reset as a hitter while starting one of those games on the mound).
The Dodgers consider Ohtani's status to be day to day. After not participating in baseball activities on Thursday, Ohtani was expected to go through some light work on Friday. It seems more likely than not that he will be unavailable during the game.
Ongoing conversations between Ohtani, Roberts and the training staff will determine Ohtani's availability moving forward. If all parties determine that it would be best for Ohtani to take additional time off, then he could land on the IL -- although Roberts hopes that will not be the case.
"Hopeful, but I wouldn't say confident," Roberts said. "If three days [go by] and we're back in the same spot two days later, then it wasn't the right decision. … There are scenarios where we don't make the move and he's still active, so I don't know what that looks like. But there's not just two ways to do this."
Dating back to June, Ohtani has dealt with multiple lingering physical issues, including left knee soreness that has been the primary reason that he has not pitched since July 3. A right biceps issue first affected him as a hitter, then went on to affect his pitching ramp-up. He showed visible discomfort in the last game he started on Wednesday, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, with Roberts later revealing that Ohtani's neck was bothering him.
Since Ohtani restarted a throwing program on Aug. 8, he is hitting .204 (19-for-93) with a .704 OPS. He has struck out 32 times in that span. Overall this season, Ohtani has a .906 OPS with 30 homers and a 1.79 ERA in 14 pitching starts.
"He hasn’t admitted [that injuries have affected his performance]," Roberts said. "I just think that clearly it’s affecting [him]. What we saw a couple nights ago wasn’t him, so clearly he was not feeling well."
Ohtani has not spoken to the media since Aug. 17 in Colorado, declining multiple requests for comment in that span.
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said on Thursday that placing Ohtani on the IL was not a real consideration at that point, as the team was not convinced that the benefits would outweigh the downside of not having Ohtani in the lineup for at least 10 days.
But the version of Ohtani that the Dodgers had gotten recently was not necessarily better than not having him in the lineup at all. That factors into the cost-benefit analysis the team must do regarding a possible IL stint.
"In five or six or seven days, would the old version, the regular version, the normal version of Shohei be there? That’s the question where we don’t know that answer," Roberts said. "Just to kind of kick the can is an option."