Dodgers’ plan for Shohei Ohtani is unnecessarily risky

The Dodgers have lost this gamble once before. But that won’t stop them from placing the same wager again.

Rather than take every precaution to ensure Shohei Ohtani doesn’t worsen the injuries to his right arm and left knee, the Dodgers will prioritize giving him at-bats to get him ready for the playoffs.

Ohtani is expected to be activated from the 15-day injured list Wednesday, and manager Dave Roberts said the plan is for him to play in every one of the five games that remain in the regular season.

“He’ll need those live at-bats,” Roberts said.

This feels reckless — and unnecessarily risky, especially when considering what happened the last time the Dodgers were in this position, just earlier this month. 

Ohtani was experiencing discomfort in his arm and knee. The Dodgers downplayed the severity of his injuries, with general manager Brandon Gomes claiming the physical problems weren’t responsible for his hitting slump and shouldn’t require him to be placed on the IL. 

So much for that.

Roberts described Ohtani as being “pain-free” Sunday, but acknowledged he was still experiencing “discomfort you can play through.” Certain levels of discomfort can be tolerated — until they can’t be, of course. That’s been the story of Ohtani’s season.

When Ohtani started feeling pain in his knee, he insisted he could pitch through it. Until he couldn’t.

When he started to be affected in the batter’s box by the throbbing in his arm and knee, he claimed he could play it. Until he couldn’t.

Roberts said Ohtani’s condition has improved over the last two weeks. But Roberts also didn’t claim Ohtani was completely healthy. 

“Is he 100%?” Roberts said. “Probably not.”

In other words, what bothered Ohtani when he landed on the IL still bothers him, just not as much.

This is a problem.

What happened earlier this month showed that if Ohtani plays too many games with these particular injuries, he will reach a point where he won’t even be able to take the field.

Why not give Ohtani every other game off? Will playing five more regular-season games instead of three make that much of a difference? Because the question isn’t whether Ohtani can make it through the next five games. The question is how much closer these games will push him to the point of no return.

The objective should be to make sure Ohtani is available in some capacity throughout the entire postseason, not only at the start of it. If he has to be gradually work his way into form over the playoffs, so be it.

Ohtani would almost certainly reject such cautious thinking. He doesn’t like half-measures. Ohtani takes big swings without much regard to the consequences.

So, if he’s going to use the final week of the regular season to prepare for the playoffs, he’ll probably do so with visions of being an impact player. He doesn’t want a Kirk Gibson moment; he wants to be Mr. October.

Before he went on the IL, Ohtani offered a realistic assessment of his health, saying he didn’t expect to be at 100% between now and the end of the season. But he said he believed he could overcome his physical problems by making adjustments to his swing.

“With some creativity, I think I can make up for what’s not right,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “Another way to say it is that it’s an opportunity to create new ways to compete.”

At the time, that meant learning how to hit with one arm and one leg.

The Dodgers let him, and Ohtani ended up on the IL.

Once again, it sounds as if Ohtani is determined to squeeze in as many at-bats as possible, and once again, it sounds as if the Dodgers will let him try.

This approach has significant upside — and downside, too.

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