Dave Roberts Officially Pulls The Plug On Any Possibility That Shohei Ohtani Could Pitch In The World Series

Well there you have it, there hasn't been much discussion about it recently but I'm sure folks would be clamoring for it. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts squashed it before we could even get excited about it, Shohei Ohtani will not pitch in the World Series and will strictly DH, no bump action for Ohtani as he continues to rehab his Tommy John surgery in the offseason. Dave Roberts went as far to say "there is no possibility" that he pitches which seems pretty cut and dry, and to be honest it's exactly what we all expected to happen. No shot he was ever going to throw this year. LA has been going through their relievers this postseason with their bullpen games but Shohei will not be apart of them, he's sticking with the lumber and hitting nukes. I'm sure the Dodgers have known for a while that he won't pitch, but why not dangle it out there a little longer? Why not try and psych out the Yankees and say there's a chance? Keep them on their toes Dave! Make them think he could come in. Maybe in-between innings and he's not batting let him trot out there, get the crowd into it, make Judge and Soto have to think about how they'd face him, it's all mind games! This is like an NFL head coach announcing on a Tuesday that his QB is out next Monday night, it helps the opponent by knowing they don't have to prepare for him. 

Now maybe, justtttttt maybe if this series gets to game 7 and the Dodgers need an inning or something, Shohei can convince Andrew Friedman and Roberts to let him go for an inning. I highly doubt that will happen but imagine the drama and scenes if we got a shot coming out of a commercial break of Ohtani grabbing his mitt and heading to the bullpen in LA. The place would go crazy. Obviously his long term health is what's most important, you don't want him to have a setback and have to have something cleaned up in there and set him back going into 2025, this is a guy you need healthy. But this is something that we've known for sometime, it was always a fun idea but it really makes no sense for him to make an appearance for them. Plus you'd expect that the Dodgers want him fully focused on hitting and putting his all into that. Again, this is no surprise but the baseball fan in me would LOVE to have seen a scenario where it's top of the 9th in game 7 in LA, bases loaded with Aaron Judge up and the Yankees down to their final out down by 3. Bullpen gates open and out comes Shohei. Goosebump city, but oh well I guess we will have to wait until next year to see him pull double duty in October.