LOS ANGELES -- For the first time all season, the Dodgers penciled in the exact nine-man lineup they envisioned when building their roster. But as Shohei Ohtani returned from the injured list on Wednesday night in a 5-1 loss to the Padres, the primary focus wasn't on immediate perfection -- it was on establishing a sustainable baseline for October.
Activated prior to Wednesday’s game after a 15-day IL stint to address lingering right biceps discomfort and left knee soreness, Ohtani stepped back into his designated hitter role. Batting second for the first time this year, he provided an early spark with a single to right field in his first plate appearance, followed by a walk in the third inning.
Ohtani finished his night 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, including a bases-loaded payoff pitch in the fourth that ended the Dodgers' best rally. Despite the high-leverage strikeout, the evaluation centered entirely on the one indicator the team needed most: health.
Unlike early September -- when wincing and a compromised swing path signaled trouble -- Ohtani swung with full intent and moved without discomfort.
"He looked good. I thought the at-bat quality was good," manager Dave Roberts said. "There wasn't any chase. I thought he hit the ball hardest in his first at-bat. It’s been a while since he’s played in a game, but it just felt like he wasn’t sped up at all."
One thing Roberts believes made a difference in Ohtani's return was his plate discipline -- a direct byproduct of feeling healthy enough not to cheat on pitches.
"I think [they] work hand in hand," Roberts said. "When you're ailing, you're not feeling as strong, as quick, you typically have to cheat. When you feel healthy and strong, you feel like you can just see the baseball, trust your eyes and take your swing. I thought that's what you saw tonight."
For the front office, getting Ohtani back into game action with five regular-season games remaining is less about immediate dominance and more about reestablishing rhythm.
"The biggest thing is get him as many at-bats as we can, some rhythm and timing," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said pregame. "Whether that's all five or four of five, we'll get a sense based on workload and how he's feeling. But the most important thing is how much better he feels.”
The decision to place Ohtani on the IL on Sept. 9 followed weeks of attempting to manage his physical ailments while keeping his bat in the lineup. Before being sidelined, Ohtani had failed to record an RBI since Aug. 18 -- his longest stretch without one in his career.
The challenge of managing Ohtani’s workload highlights an ongoing learning curve for the organization, made trickier by Ohtani’s natural desire to play through discomfort.
"What he is doing is unprecedented, and it takes a real toll," Friedman said. "I think us just being very dialed is gonna be really important. And we certainly had a lot of communication with him throughout the year and worked together really well in terms of how to go about this."
"Every time we've ever gone to Shohei about a day off or when he's going to pitch ... his answer every single time is, ‘Whatever it takes to help the team win,’" Friedman added. "Now, with that, he's not always the best reporter of how he feels. [I’ve] been around a lot of these guys that feel like their job is to be out there. ... But I think there's no question it affected him. I think in his mind, he just thought that what he was dealing with was more minor ... but us staying really connected and sharing that information, I think will be really important going forward."
Without a historical blueprint for managing a modern two-way player through these situations, Friedman acknowledged that protocol remains an evolving process.
"There's no playbook for this," Friedman said. "It's not like Doc can draw from experience or I can draw from experience of, 'Oh yeah, when we dealt with this.' So it's unprecedented for all of us. We're kind of feeling our way through it together."
With October approaching, the goal is simply ensuring Ohtani remains healthy so he can be a full contributor when the postseason begins.
“I want him, just like everyone else, to [play their best baseball],” Roberts said. “These [games] are about to get you ready for the postseason. ... And so his mind should be there and my bet is that that's where it's at.”
The loss, paired with the Braves' win, means the Dodgers remain one victory -- or one Atlanta defeat -- away from clinching a top-two record in the NL and a first-round bye in the posteason.