n8rngtd.topAs the Los Angeles Dodgers prepare to begin their journey in the 2024 MLB playoffs, don't expect to see Shohei Ohtani taking the mound this fall.
Back in September, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts left the door open for Ohtani to toe the rubber in the playoffs. But Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes shot down that possibility on Wednesday.
Ohtani hasn't pitched in an MLB game since undergoing elbow surgery last September. He has been on a throwing program for most of the summer and worked off a mound for the first time in August.
"I just think like anything—you should always leave some margin, a crack in the door for any possibility," Roberts said in September on MLB Network Radio. "If things line up and there's a need, and the game, his body, everything is telling us that it makes sense in that situation, great. It would be storybook."
A return to the mound would be storybook, indeed, but it appears Ohtani will have to save his playoff heroics for the batter's box. He is coming off one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history as he became the first player to tally at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
Ohtani, who never made the playoffs over six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, will make his postseason debut in Game 1 of the NLDS. The Dodgers will face the winner of the ongoing best-of-three wild-card series between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres.