Finally taking center stage under the brightest lights in baseball, the sport’s biggest and most expensive star suffered a scary injury.
Shohei Ohtani had just drawn a walk in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a baserunner and a chance to extend their 4-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Ohtani, fresh off stealing 59 bases this regular season, made a break for second on a 0-1 count, but the throw from catcher Austin Wells was in time.
Ohtani slid slightly late, overshooting the bag as he was getting tagged. He planted his left arm awkwardly, then stayed on the ground in visible pain.
As the Dodgers’ training staff came out to tend to the 30-year-old designated hitter, the Japanese broadcast picked up audio of Ohtani saying his shoulder had popped out. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Ohtani had suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder, which is a partial dislocation.
From Dodgers fans and Yankees fans to podcasters and reporters, the entire baseball world took to social media to express their shock.
Ohtani was 0-for-3 when he went down, following up his 1-for-5 performance on Friday. So far these playoffs, Ohtani is batting .260 with three home runs, 10 RBI and an .863 OPS.
While the voting results won’t be released for another few weeks, Ohtani is heavily favored to win NL MVP. He hit .310 with 54 home runs, 130 RBI, 59 stolen bases, a 1.036 OPS and a 9.2 WAR in the 2024 regular season.
The Dodgers held on to win 4-2 on Saturday, going up 2-0 as the series heads out to the Bronx. It remains to be seen if the $700 million man will be available for Los Angeles moving forward.
Game 3 is scheduled to get underway at 8:08 p.m. ET on Monday.