Before Thursday, Shohei Ohtani was continuing to prove that he was worth the wait in his return to the pitcher's mound after a second major elbow surgery. Through his first nine starts (23 1/3 innings) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he had a 3.47 ERA and has struck out 32 batters while walking just five.
If he and the rest of his fellow starters can stay healthy – admittedly, a big "if" – the Dodgers will have their dream October rotation of Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw.
In the meantime, though, the Dodgers are keeping a close eye on his workload and limiting his starts to five innings or fewer, which raises the question: could we see Ohtani pitch out of the Dodgers' bullpen in the playoffs?