PHILADELPHIA — The last time Shohei Ohtani took the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies, it was the first time all year he looked like a true starting pitcher again.
Ohtani, of course, had pitched plenty before that Sept. 16 game at Dodger Stadium, when he spun five no-hit innings against a Phillies team on the verge of a National League East division title. Up to that point, the two-way star had been making starts for the previous three months in his return from a second career Tommy John surgery.
During that stretch, however, Ohtani was under strict limitations.