TORONTO — Shohei Ohtani has spent his entire career testing limits and establishing new standards for what a baseball player can achieve. He relishes challenges, the bigger, the better. And the one he faces Saturday night, in some ways, might be his biggest yet.
Ohtani, according to a source briefed on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ plans, will start Game 7 of the World Series on three days rest. He also will fill his customary role as the Dodgers’ leadoff batter and designated hitter. And, if all goes well, he will help the Dodgers become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the 1998 to 2000 New York Yankees.
Mystery is as much a part of Ohtani’s persona as mastery. It’s impossible to know what he is thinking. But we can imagine, when he settled in for his 12 hours of sleep after the Dodgers’ thrilling 3-1 victory in Game 6, what might have been going through his mind.
Bring it on. Bring on the Toronto Blue Jays. Bring on the first Game 7 in the World Series since 2019. And bring on however many innings are necessary to complete the job.
The matchup between Ohtani and Jays right-hander Max Scherzer will be a showdown of future Hall of Famers, one at the height of his career, the other in the twilight. Scherzer, 41, will be starting his second World Series Game 7 — the other was in 2019 for the Washington Nationals — and sixth winner-take-all game in October. His ERA in his five previous winner-take-all starts: 3.52.
Ohtani, 31, has pitched only once on three days rest, and that was only because rain delays forced him out of a game in Boston after two innings in 2023, enabling him to come back quickly. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would not officially commit to him as his starter for Game 7. Nor was Roberts certain of how much he could ask of Ohtani, who threw 93 pitches in Game 4 one day after getting on base nine times in the 18-inning Game 3.
“That’s a good question,” Roberts said in his postgame interview with me on Fox. “Right now, there’s no wrong answer. He’s certainly going to be a part of the pitching plan. With Shohei, it could be two innings, or it could be four innings. I’m not sure where we’re going to slot him. We’re going to have to talk to him first and see where he feels most comfortable.”
“This is do or die, you got to leave it all out there…”@Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts joined @Ken_Rosenthal to talk about his decision to bring Tyler Glasnow in for the 9th, and gives his outlook for Game 7! pic.twitter.com/0LX12ecfCY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 1, 2025
With Ohtani, the Dodgers always follow a specific protocol. But Roberts knows full well he has almost no choice but to start Ohtani, partly because his other options are less than enticing, but primarily because of the Ohtani rule that Major League Baseball implemented in 2022 to accommodate him.
The rule enabled Ohtani’s pursuit of two-way stardom, allowing a starting pitcher who also serves as a DH to remain in the game as a hitter after he is removed as a pitcher. However, if the Dodgers use Ohtani as a reliever, they will lose their DH after he departs, forcing their pitcher to hit.
No problem if Ohtani completes a save as a closer, the way he did for Japan in the championship game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. It’s a big problem if he gets removed as a reliever without going to another position and is lost for the rest of the game. Ohtani could play outfield, but his sole major-league experience in left and right is 8 1/3 innings, all in 2021.
The Ohtani rule benefits the Dodgers during the regular season, allowing them to essentially carry him as a 14th pitcher, one more than the maximum. But a nuance in the rule further discourages his use out of the bullpen, according to an MLB official briefed on the rule’s language.
If the Dodgers paid Ohtani a mound visit to remove him as a reliever, they would be required to move him to another position to keep him in the game. Ohtani then would hit in his same position in the batting order, and the new pitcher would hit in the spot of the player he replaced.
The only real choice then is for Ohtani to start. And the obvious concern — after 65 innings pitched and 805 plate appearances this season, including playoffs — is that he might finally fatigue.
His hitting in the playoffs has been inconsistent. Beyond his three monster offensive performances — his two-homer game in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, three-homer game in the National League Championship Series and four extra-base hits, five-walk extravaganza in Game 3 of the World Series — Ohtani has been relatively mortal. He is facing tougher pitching than he does during the regular season. But since the 18-inning marathon in Game 3, he is 1 for 10 with two walks.
As a pitcher, the Dodgers managed Ohtani carefully during the regular season, holding off his debut until June 16, then slowly building his volume as he returned from a second major elbow operation. Ohtani’s final regular-season start and three playoff starts all have lasted six innings. Yet, he certainly seems game for more.
Roberts said Ohtani tells the Dodgers, “Whenever I pitch, if I just pitch and I’m feeling good, I can keep going.”
In Game 4, he allowed two runs in his first six innings, then was charged with two more in the seventh after left-hander Anthony Banda allowed two inherited runners to score. Roberts said that when Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior approached Ohtani after the sixth to ask how many innings he had left, Ohtani responded by saying three.
According to Roberts, every Dodgers pitcher but Game 6 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be available for Game 7. But even if the Ohtani rule wasn’t pointing the manager in an obvious direction, to whom else would he turn?
Right-hander Emmet Sheehan is inexperienced. Lefty Clayton Kershaw is on the verge of retirement. Right-hander Tyler Glasnow, the originally scheduled Game 7 starter, said he is willing to make back-to-back appearances after throwing only three pitches to earn the save in Game 6. But it would make little sense to start him when using Ohtani as a reliever would be so problematic.
Ohtani is the biggest star in the sport. His entire career, it seems, has pointed toward this moment. Of course, he’s going to start Game 7, on three days rest, while also serving as a DH. His 2025 season — and Major League Baseball’s — could end no other way.
