The best player in baseball will be on the mound in the sport’s biggest possible setting.
Shohei Ohtani will start Saturday’s World Series Game 7 for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays, a team source told The Athletic.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters at a news conference after Game 6 that every pitcher on the roster except for Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be available in the winner-take-all game. Yamamoto threw 96 pitches in Friday’s 3-1 Dodgers win, going six innings and giving up just one run on five hits. And though the Dodgers skipper was elusive in the moment about who would start Saturday, the obvious choice was always the team’s all-world two-way player.
As a starter, Ohtani could remain in the game at DH after he leaves the mound. If Ohtani were to enter as a reliever, MLB’s two-way player rule does not apply. He could remain in the game after pitching only if he moved elsewhere in the field, and the Dodgers would forfeit the DH.
Max Scherzer, the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer, will start for the Blue Jays. With Ohtani on the hill, this makes Game 7 an instant headliner as few others in World Series history.
Ohtani has a 3.50 ERA in three starts for the Dodgers this postseason. He pitched six scoreless innings and struck out 10 batters against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. In World Series Game 4, Ohtani pitched six innings and surrendered a more mortal four earned runs. He threw 93 pitches in that game and would pitch on short rest in Game 7.
But Ohtani is a $700 million player for good reason. The two-way star has captivated for years by doing things the sport has never seen before. This year is the first time we have seen Ohtani pitch in the postseason, his unicorn pitching and hitting prowess on full display. He has been a marvel at the plate for the Dodgers this fall, posting a 1.111 OPS in the playoffs and reaching base 15 times in the World Series.
Ohtani went 1-for-3 with a walk and a double in Game 6. His presence alone changes games, but by his standards, Ohtani has been fairly quiet. He reached base nine times and hit two home runs in the 18-inning Game 3.
It’s fitting, though, that Ohtani will now get the ball in a winner-take-all game opposite one of the great pitchers of a generation.
For all his accomplishments and all the hysteria, never has Ohtani stepped on a bigger stage.
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