Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani won’t start Game 1 or Game 2 of the NLCS, but manager Dave Roberts said to count on him being on the mound during the series.
Blake Snell will start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 2. Ohtani’s start will come later in the series, according to Roberts.
“He’ll pitch at some point, but we just don’t know which day,” Roberts said, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
Ohtani had a pair of home runs in Game 1 of the wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds, but has since been mostly unproductive at the plate, hitting .148 over six postseason games.
Roberts said the Dodgers’ pitching plan for Ohtani was not related to his struggles at the plate.
“No, not at all,” Roberts said. “I think it was just kind of Shohei’s going to pitch one game this series. So, it’s one game and then you have two other guys that potentially can pitch on regular rest.”
Ohtani started Game 1 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies, recording a 4.50 ERA across six innings in his first-ever postseason start. If he were to pitch Game 3 in Los Angeles, it would give him 12 days between his two starts.
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