TORONTO — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will consider using Shohei Ohtani as an opener or even as an outfielder in Game 7 if they can extend the World Series to the limit.
The two-way star threw 93 pitches in Wednesday’s 6-2 loss in Game 4 and could be available as a reliever this weekend in Toronto.
However, if Ohtani entered as a reliever after starting the game as a designated hitter, the Dodgers would lose their DH. He can remain in the game as a DH if he also is the starting pitcher.
“I think we would consider everything,” Roberts said Thursday, a day ahead of Game 6. “It’s more of just kind of doing whatever we can to get through tomorrow and then pick up the pieces and then see what’s the best way to attack a potential Game 7. So everything should be on the table and will be, for sure.”
Roberts said he planned to discuss options with Ohtani later Thursday.
Ohtani has never pitched in relief during his major league career. He made a handful of relief appearances in Japan for the Pacific League’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, mostly as a rookie in 2013. He closed out Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic title game against the United States, memorably striking out his then-Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out.
Ohtani took on-field batting practice Thursday, which he rarely does, appearing to hit balls off the hotel behind center field.
He is batting .250 with eight home runs, 14 RBIs and 14 walks in the postseason for a 1.109 OPS and is 2-1 on the mound with a 3.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 18 innings.
If Ohtani entered as a reliever after starting as a DH, he would need to play a position to remain in the game once his mound appearance is over.
He made seven outfield appearances with the Angels in 2021, the year before a rule was changed allowing starting pitchers to stay in games at DH after being removed from mound appearances.
BLUE JAYS’ SPRINGER ON TRACK TO PLAY IN GAME 6
Injured Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer is on track to play in Game 6, Toronto manager John Schneider said.
Springer, who strained muscles on his right side while taking a swing in Game 3, was actually close to playing in Game 5 on Wednesday night, Schneider said Thursday.
“He was right on the fence,” Schneider said of Springer’s status for Game 5, a 6-1 Toronto win that gave the Blue Jays a 3-2 series lead. “He probably could have. I was really juggling what’s best for him, what’s best for the team, not just immediately to start the game, but kind of how that game may unfold too.”
The 36-year-old slugger immediately left the game after the first pitch of a plate appearance in the seventh inning on Monday night. Springer didn’t play in Game 4.
Schneider said Springer had “kind of checked every box physically so far,” putting him in position to play Friday’s potential clincher.
“Just making sure he feels comfortable and confident tomorrow, and not just for one at-bat, to go in and compete and kind of get locked into a game,” Schneider said.
Springer worked out in the batting cage and again on the field before Game 5. He appeared to be preparing to pinch-run for Bo Bichette in the ninth inning, but Bichette grounded out.
“He was close, and he was ready to come in, and I’m glad we didn’t need him and got him an extra couple days,” Schneider said. “Hopefully he’s good to go (Friday).”
Springer has the second-most leadoff homers in major league history with 63, trailing only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson’s 81.
Springer hit a three-run homer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against Seattle on Oct. 20, playing a major role in sending the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993.
That came three days after he was struck on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph pitch from Seattle’s Bryan Woo during the ALCS, forcing him out of Game 5. Springer returned in Game 6.
Springer was the World Series MVP for the Houston Astros in 2017, when he tied a Series record by hitting five homers against the Dodgers. Dodger fans have booed him at Dodger Stadium since that Astros title was later tainted by the revelation of their illegal sign stealing.
ROGERS CENTRE REMATCH
Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman is set to start Game 6 opposite the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a rematch of Game 2, and he expects the crowd to be cranked up.
Gausman matched Yamamoto in that one until the seventh inning, when Will Smith and Max Muncy hit solo homers for a 3-1 lead.
“Rogers Centre is going to be fun. It’s going to be electric,” Gausman said. “It’s going to be everything that it has been for the last month and probably more.”
WEATHER CHANGES AND WORKOUT LAUGHS
After three games at sunny Dodger Stadium, where the game-time temperature Wednesday was 86 degrees, the series moved back to Toronto, a city framed by tree leaves that had turned to autumn red, orange and yellow. The roof was closed for Thursday’s workout – it was raining outside with a 46-degree temperature.
Dodgers players arrived about 7 a.m. while the staff stayed in L.A. overnight and traveled Thursday. Dodgers manager Roberts said while Thursday’s workout was voluntary, every player attended.
Adding some levity to the workout, Roberts raced utility player Hyeseong Kim and fell flat on his face in the dirt basepath.
Kim stood on first base and Roberts stood near the cutout, where a runner would take his lead.
Rounding second, Roberts stumbled and fell. The 53-year-old manager feigned a hamstring injury after getting up.
FOOT NOTE IN THE OUTFIELD
A day before playing for a World Series title, Davis Schneider went barefoot in the park.
Toronto players arrived at Rogers Centre at about 8 a.m. on Thursday after a red-eye flight from Los Angeles that followed their Game 5 win. By late afternoon, Schneider was ambling about the nearly empty ballpark, which will be filled to capacity Friday night with fans hungering to witness Toronto’s first title since 1993. He wore a tank top and ski cap, with no shoes.
“Walking around the outfield, get a feel of the grass, or turf I should say,” he explained. “I try to do that every single day, just walk around and get my body going.”
Schneider’s home run on Blake Snell’s first pitch launched Toronto to Wednesday’s win. While for Games 1 and 2 last week Schneider had one of the 55 rooms with a view of the field at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel, he was given regular lodging when he checked back in.
Addison Barger, the teammate who slept on Schneider’s sofa bed during the first leg, didn’t remain his roomie this weekend.
“He has the money to get his own room,” Schneider quipped. “He could have stayed, but he didn’t.”