The best player in baseball will be on the mound in the largest possible position in the sport.
Shohei Ohtani will start Saturday’s seventh series game for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays, a team source said. The athlete.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters in a post-Game 6 press conference that every pitcher on the roster except Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be available for the winner-take-all game. Yamamoto threw 96 pitches in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win on Friday, going six innings and giving up just one run on five hits. And although the Dodgers’ skipper was out of the question at that moment as to who would start on Saturday, the obvious choice was always going to be the team’s all-around doubles player.
As a starter, Ohtani could stay in the game at DH after he leaves the mound. If Ohtani entered as a reliever, MLB’s two-way player rule would not apply. He can’t stay in the game after throwing unless he moves to another spot on the field, and the Dodgers will lose the DH.
Max Scherzer, the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer, will start for the Blue Jays. With Ohtani on the mound, this makes Game 7 an instant headliner like few other games in World Series history.
Ohtani has a 3.50 ERA in three starts for the Dodgers in the postseason. He pitched six scoreless innings and struck out 10 batters against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. In World Series Game 4, Ohtani pitched six innings and surrendered four earned runs. He threw 93 pitches in that game and will pitch on short rest in Game 7.
But Ohtani is a $700 million player for good reason. The two-way star has captivated for years by doing things the sport has never seen before. This year is the first time we’ve seen Ohtani pitch in the postseason, where his pitching and hitting prowess is on full display. He was a marvel at the plate for the Dodgers this fall, posting a 1.111 OPS in the playoffs and reaching base 15 times in the World Series.
Ohtani went 1-for-3 with a walk and a double in Game 6. His presence alone changes the course of games, but by his standards, Ohtani has been fairly quiet. He reached base nine times and hit two home runs in the 18-inning third game.
Still, it’s fitting that Ohtani will now get the ball in a winner-takes-all matchup against one of the greatest pitchers of this generation.
For all his accomplishments and all the hysteria, Ohtani has never been on a bigger stage.
