With everything on the line Saturday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers will start Shohei Ohtani on short rest in Game 7.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in a news conference after his team’s 3-1 Game 6 victory that all pitchers except Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be available.
That includes Tyler Glasnow, who was lined up to start Game 7 but came out of the bullpen to record the final three outs of Friday’s Game 6. That includes Roki Sasaki, who faced seven batters. And that includes Ohtani, whose easiest path to pitching has always been to open the game, rather than out of the bullpen.
Ohtani pitched six innings and threw 93 pitches in Game 4 and will take the mound on three days’ rest. Ohtani has already made one start on three days rest, but that was after completing just two innings in a previous start in 2023. Every other major league start Ohtani has made has come on five or six days rest.
However, due to the two-way rule, Ohtani’s departure ensures that he can remain in the game as the designated hitter after moving out of the pitching position. If he were to come in as a reliever and then come out while the game was in progress, Ohtani would have to play in the outfield to be able to hit again. Closing out the game — as he did to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic for his native Japan — is also an option, but further complicated by having to juggle warming up while hitting or running the bases.
The Blue Jays will start Max Scherzer in Game 7 and, to some extent, will have every pitcher available outside of Kevin Gausman. That includes 22-year-old phenom Trey Yesavage, who dominated the Dodgers in Game 5 on Wednesday, striking out 12 batters while pitching seven one-run innings. Saturday would have been considered Yesavage’s bullpen day. Instead, he could pitch the deciding game of the 2025 season.
“If the people making the decision think it’s a good idea for the team,” Yesavage said, “then I’m all for it.”
ESPN’s Jeff Passan contributed to this report.
