Shohei Ohtani was certain shortly after he partially dislocated his left shoulder in Game 2 of the World Series that he would return for Game 3.
How certain?
The Dodgers star sent out a text thread to teammates Saturday night as they were bussing to the airport for a flight to New York.
“He said he was going to be fine, and that’s it,” Max Muncy said Monday before the Dodgers beat the Yankees 4-2 in Game 3 of the World Series. “He said he was going to play, so we all put it to the side at the moment.”
True to his word, Ohtani was back in the leadoff spot as the DH and reached base with a walk leading off the game and a hit-by-pitch in the ninth.
Ohtani suffered his shoulder injury on an attempted steal of second base Saturday. He was diagnosed with a subluxation (partial dislocation) of the left shoulder, but additional testing showed no further damage, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
It left Ohtani in position to play, dependent on pain tolerance.
“If it was the right shoulder, I think it would have affected my swing,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “Thankfully, it was my left, so I don’t think it really did.”
Ohtani added that he wore a “device” during Monday’s game that helped keep the shoulder warm. He held the shoulder when he was on the bases to ensure he wouldn’t use it if he needed to slide into a base.
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“The pain has subsided, so I felt pretty good about it,” he said.
Roberts has doubts Ohtani will attempt to steal bases for the rest of this series, but the slugger remains a threat standing at the plate with a bat.
Even if Ohtani is less than 100 percent, just his presence in the batter’s box is enough to put a scare into the opponent.
“Regardless of what limitations a pitcher might think [Ohtani] might or might not have, not many guys are willing to take that chance,” Roberts said. “I’m just expecting him to control the strike zone, let the at-bats come to him and swing and fire when the ball is in the hitting zone. We’re just very grateful that he’s in the lineup.”
Ohtani entered the day with a .260/.403/.460 slash line with three homers and 10 RBIs in the postseason. Two of those homers were hit against the Mets in the NLCS.
“If you keep the best player in the game in the lineup, that’s usually good for your team,” Muncy said. “He’s had some big moments for us, and we’re expecting a couple of more big moments out of him.”
Roberts’ only regret is he wasn’t part of the text chain in which Ohtani told his teammates he was fine and would continue playing.
“It would have been helpful if I saw that thread,” Roberts said. “I would have slept better Saturday night. I wasn’t privy to that until today, so that would have been helpful.”
Ohtani entered the day with a .260/.403/.460 slash line with three homers and 10 RBIs. Two of those homers were hit against the Mets in the NLCS.
