LOS ANGELES — One “spa day” wasn’t enough.
Shohei Ohtani was out of the Dodgers’ lineup for a second consecutive game on Friday amid concerns about Ohtani’s health for the remainder of the season. It is the first time since April 18-19, 2025 that he has missed consecutive games (he was placed on the paternity list for the birth of his first child).
Since joining the Dodgers for the 2024 season, they have not played more than two consecutive games without Ohtani in their lineup. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts held out the possibility that his team could be without Ohtani for longer than that this time.
Softening his stance on whether Ohtani would eventually land on the injured list to give him extended time to recover from the biceps and knee issues that have bothered him for weeks, Roberts said he was “hopeful but I wouldn’t say confident” that Ohtani wouldn’t need to go on the IL.
“We’re just kind of balancing how many days is sufficient to then be worth the time to get back versus running this play out of days off and it not being adequate,” Roberts said.
The day off Thursday was “good for him” mentally as well as physically, Roberts said.
“Yesterday was essentially a ‘spa day’ where he didn’t do a whole lot, if anything. Just watched a baseball game,” Roberts said. “Today is a day that he can sort of start getting his body moving a little bit, all the while not thinking about starting (a game).
“I talked to him yesterday and said that this is what we’re going to do. It’s a day-to-day thing. Let’s stay in communication and let’s see when the time to give the green light is.”
The Dodgers should be in no hurry to give that green light if the version of Ohtani they will be getting is the one who was 6 for 46 (.130) over a 12-game stretch that culminated with a four-strikeout game Wednesday night that prompted this down time.
“That short answer is no, it’s not good to have that version of him,” Roberts said. “The thought is … in five or six or seven days would the old version, the regular version, the normal version of Shohei be there? … We don’t know that answer. Just to kind of kick the can is an option.”
Could the Dodgers choose to kick the can for five, six, seven days?
“I don’t know,” Roberts said. “I think I’m just in the day-to-day mode. But certainly it’s a possibility.”
Ohtani has done no throwing (even with plyo balls) in the last few days, according to Roberts who acknowledged that “pushes back” any potential return to pitching. Ohtani did have imaging done on his sore right biceps at some point over the past couple of months, he said, and “there was nothing of note at all.”
Ohtani skipped the All-Star Game festivities in July despite being the leading vote-getter, instead resting his sore left knee and receiving a lubricant injection in the joint. The knee pain flared up when he tried to increase his throwing off a mound.
Ohtani has been unavailable to answer questions about his status. He has not spoken to the media since Aug. 17.
MAKING PROGRESS
Right-hander Roki Sasaki threw a bullpen session on Friday afternoon, his first since going on the IL with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.
Sasaki threw with the blister covered, but Roberts said it is “healing nicely.”
“The ’pen was really good,” said Roberts, who stood in the batter’s box for part of the session. “I talked to him yesterday and the blister was healing nicely. He threw with it covered today so I’m assuming that obviously there was nothing that was affected. So he’s in a good spot.”
Meanwhile, relief pitcher Edwin Diaz (neck) threw live batting practice again Friday, facing Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland in a simulated inning. Diaz is expected to go on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment before the minor-league season ends on Sept. 20.
“Today was his best one,” Roberts said of the session. “It’s coming.”
ALSO
Right-hander Bobby Miller joined the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Friday but remained on the taxi squad for now. Miller missed most of the season with back and shoulder injuries. He has a 3.86 ERA after 14 innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City this season.
UP NEXT
Nationals (RHP Cade Cavalli, 12-5, 3.12 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Tyler Glasnow, 4-0, 2.79 ERA), Saturday, 6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM