{"id":348083,"date":"2025-11-01T13:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T13:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/348083\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T13:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T13:44:15","slug":"whats-at-stake-for-shohei-ohtani-dodgers-in-a-world-series-game-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/348083\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s at stake for Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers in a World Series Game 7?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TORONTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Once again, the planets have aligned for Shohei Ohtani<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The elements are in place for another climactic finish to the latest chapter of this real-life manga, and baseball might never be the same after this.<\/p>\n

World Series.<\/p>\n

Game 7.<\/p>\n

Ohtani will be the Dodgers\u2019 starting pitcher<\/a> and designated hitter.<\/p>\n

This is his moment.<\/p>\n

He dominates the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night at Rogers Center, and he\u2019s to baseball what Michael Jordan is to basketball, what Tom Brady is to football, what Wayne Gretzky is to hockey.<\/p>\n

With eight home runs, he\u2019s already tied Corey Seager\u2019s record for the most home runs by a Dodgers<\/a> player in a single postseason.<\/p>\n

Ohtani will now have a chance to pick up his third win of these playoffs, in a game to clinch the World Series.<\/p>\n

From denying the Dodgers to sign with the Nippon-Ham Fighters out of high school to denying the Dodgers again to sign with the Angels<\/a> when he moved to the major leagues, everything Ohtani has done over the last 12 years have set him up for this game.<\/p>\n

Now, if he can just win it and maybe homer once or twice.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are planning to deploy Ohtani as a so-called opener not because they\u2019re determined to build his legacy but because doing so represents their most likely route to victory.<\/p>\n

Ohtani will be pitching on three days\u2019 rest, but pitching him in relief would present logistical problems.<\/p>\n

Under baseball\u2019s current rules, if he pitches in relief and is removed from the game as a pitcher, he would also have to be removed as the designated hitter. That would force him to play in the outfield or be taken out of the game entirely.<\/p>\n

Ohtani could close, but, say, his turn to bat comes up while he\u2019s warming up to pitch. A league official said the pitch-clock rules would still apply, meaning Ohtani would have to sprint from the bullpen to the batter\u2019s box in 15 or 18 seconds, depending on whether there are men on base.<\/p>\n

Only as a starter could Ohtani remain in the game as a designated hitter after he is taken out as a pitcher.<\/p>\n

Considering Ohtani pitched on Tuesday in Game 4<\/a> and considering he\u2019s never pitched on three days\u2019 rest for the Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts<\/a> downplayed what should be expected of him.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani prepares before Game 6 of the World Series at Rogers Centre on Friday night.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Shohei, it could be two innings,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut it could be four innings.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about five?<\/p>\n

In that scenario, Tyler Glasnow<\/a> and Blake Snell<\/a> could probably combine to pitch the final four innings by themselves. Roberts would be spared from having to turn back to Sasaki, a converted starter who was extremely shaky in Game 6.<\/p>\n

The incentive for Ohtani to pitch more innings was greater after Friday night when Sasaki failed to complete the ninth inning and forced Glasnow into the game. The three-pitch appearance, and the warm-up that preceded it, probably ruled out Glasnow from pitching, say, four innings.<\/p>\n

Sasaki said he would be ready for Game 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will be a total war tomorrow, so I\u2019ll do my best to hold the opposition in the spots entrusted to me,\u201d Sasaki said in Japanese.<\/p>\n

Roberts said only one pitcher would be unavailable: Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>, who pitched six innings in Game 6.<\/p>\n

Then again, Walker Buehler wasn\u2019t part of the Dodgers\u2019 plans for their World Series clincher last year<\/a>. Buehler registered the final three outs.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto also wasn\u2019t part of the team\u2019s plans for their 18-inning victory in Game 3<\/a>. Yamamoto was only two days removed from pitching a complete game<\/a>, but he nonetheless volunteered to warm up.<\/p>\n

He joked that he would rather not do something like that again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m told, \u2018Go,\u2019 I\u2019ll go, but if possible, I\u2019d like to do my best cheering,\u201d Yamamoto said with a mischievous smile.<\/p>\n

Later, when speaking of the intense pressure the teams would face in Game 7, Yamamoto again smiled and cracked, \u201cIt will be difficult for the players who play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani will play, and he will have the most to gain.<\/p>\n

The universe has conspired to make him a hero again, just as it did in the 2023 World Baseball Classic<\/a>. Ohtani closed for Japan in the championship game, which was against the United States.<\/p>\n

The final batter was Mike Trout, whom he struck out.<\/p>\n

The at-bat stands as the signature moment of Ohtani\u2019s career<\/a>. That could change on Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Once again, the planets have aligned for Shohei Ohtani. The elements are in place for another climactic finish…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":348084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[591,1582,276,2385,2442,1910,76221,89616,2961,224,5337,28209,26804,60661,4712,3007,6601,3355,154127,20410],"class_list":{"0":"post-348083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-day","12":"tag-dodgers","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-hitter","15":"tag-innings","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-pitcher","20":"tag-roberts","21":"tag-sasaki","22":"tag-shohei-ohtani","23":"tag-team","24":"tag-tyler-glasnow","25":"tag-victory","26":"tag-world-series-game","27":"tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115474744337902509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}