Three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani will make his Los Angeles Dodgers pitching debut on Monday night, the team announced.
In an X post that rocked the baseball fan base on Sunday night, the Dodgers stated that the MLB star will be their starting pitcher for their home game against the San Diego Padres.
For the first time in 21 months, the two-way phenom will make his highly anticipated return to the pitcher’s mound after spending the last MLB season rehabbing from elbow surgery.
“Shohei is getting antsy, which is a good thing for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the team announced Ohtani would get the ball on Monday night, according to the Associated Press.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be one or two innings, but my guess is probably an inning to start. But it’s a good thing. The live, simulated, or whatever, sort of ran its course. He’s ready to make his debut on the mound.”
The Dodgers made the announcement after Sunday night’s 5-4 win over San Francisco, and, riding the team’s momentum, a day after Ohtani’s two-homer game against the Giants to end his 10-game drought, AP reported.
“It did feel like I hadn’t hit a homer in a while,” Ohtani said through his interpreter after Saturday’s game, where he also happened to reach 25 homers for the fifth consecutive season.
“I didn’t realize that,” Roberts said when informed of Ohtani’s homer drought. “He has a way of making up for things and leveling things out.”
