Thursday, September 10, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

Okay, Shohei Ohtani is finally on the IL.

The Los Angeles Dodgers could have, should have, and ought to have placed Ohtani on the IL around the All-Star break.

I get it. The Dodgers are a bunch of imperfect humans. They may have made a mistake. It happens. Hindsight is 20/20.

The Dodgers and Ohtani must go on.

Will Ohtani be able to perform in the postseason?

The Dodgers don’t know. Ohtani doesn’t know. Dave Roberts already said that he won’t be 100 percent.

No player is 100 percent during the postseason. This writer is not 100 percent, but I will do my job to the best of my ability.

The problem is that the Dodgers need Ohtani’s offensive production to three-peat. Ohtani won’t pitch this season.

If Ohtani were an ordinary player, would the media be going crazy because the Dodgers placed him on the IL?

Absolutely not! I wrote up the news last night. I would be enjoying a rare day off.

But it is OHTANI! Baseball’s unicorn. The player who can do it all. He has acted like Superman for the first two years in a Dodger uniform.

Memo: Ohtani is human! He has a left knee and right biceps barking. He doesn’t want to talk to the media because he doesn’t feel good. It happens.

The problem is that the Dodgers have only thirteen games left in the 2026 regular season. Since Ohtani is a two-way player, he must be on the IL for fifteen days. This means he will be available for the last five games of the season.

Will his swing be ready for the postseason with five games’ at-bats?

No one knows. We must wait and see. Patience. Most of us don’t have much. I am impatient, but in this situation, I have more patience than most.

Can the Dodgers win a three-peat without Ohtani?

No one knows.

I think so.

This is the first season with Ohtani that he hasn’t hit fifty or more home runs.  He has thirty. Even if he hits a home run in every at-bat when he returns, there’s no way that he will have fifty home runs.

News Flash: Ohtani won’t win the National League MVP for the first time as a Dodger.

How do the Dodgers win their third consecutive World Championship?

Baseball fundamentals. If Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow pitch up to their potential, the Dodgers have the best starting rotation among the projected teams in the postseason.

Roki Sasaki, who is projected to be back next week from an awful blister, goes to the bullpen. With that addition, the Dodgers have the best bullpen in the playoffs even without Edwin Díaz. Sasaki has experience closing out games in the playoffs as a rookie. He has matured this year as a pitcher. His command is much better, and he has developed an unhittable splitter instead of a forkball.

Evan Phillips has been looking like Evan Phillips for the first time since having Tommy John surgery in June 2025. He can get out tough hitters.

Eduardo Henriquez has grown by leaps and bounds this year. His command is great, and only a few hitters can hit a 104 miles per hour fastball. His slider has a sharp break with depth.

Tanner Scott is doing what the Dodgers expected him to do when they signed him to a four-year, $72 million deal. He can retire tough lefties.

Along with super pitching, the Dodgers have excellent defense. Max Muncy has become an excellent third baseman. Tommy Edman can be at second base where he has won a Gold Glove when Andy Pages returns from a fractured hand. Pages is hitting off a tee, two weeks after having hand surgery and reports he is pain-free. With him roaming center field, the Dodgers have excellent outfield defense.

While run prevention is essential in the postseason, the Dodgers must outscore their opponent to win. From July 1^st to September 3^rd, the Dodgers’ offense sucked. By the way, September 3^rd was the first day that Ohtani sat.

If I were completely honest with my readers, the Dodgers’ offense worries me even with Ohtani. They are very home run-reliant even when they don’t have power. They don’t do well with situational hitting.

Dave Roberts wants a “better approach,” meaning taking balls and getting a pitch to drive. Although this is important, the Dodgers need to stop hitting into double plays. Roberts needs to play hit-and-run and run-and-hit to prevent double plays.

In Ohtani’s absence, I would use Teoscar Hernández as their DH and play Alex Call in left field. I know the Dodgers want Josue De Paula to have a chance to prove what he can do on the major-league level, but he won’t be on the playoff roster.

Losing Ohtani at this stage of the season is a big blow to the Dodgers, but the team is much more than one person. If they play the way they are capable of, they should reach their potential with or without their worldwide superstar.