Could Shohei Ohtani Pitch in the Playoffs Next Month?

It's probably not wise to count him out.

Shohei Ohtani warms up his arm before a recent game (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Hi friends-

Last week I sounded the alarm about the Dodgers’ starting pitching catastrophe. This is not because I expect anyone to ever feel sorry for the obscenely wealthy baseball juggernaut from Los Angeles, but to let readers know that my expectations for a Dodgers World Series title this year are….tempered, at best.

LA’s current playoff rotation looks like this:

1. Jack Flaherty

2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who hasn’t pitched more than four innings in a major or minor league game since June 7th)

3. Rookie Landon Knack (who has thrown 61 career major league innings)

4. A broken Walker Buehler and his 4+ ERA recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.

That’s it. That’s the list. There’s no one else.

Tyler Glasnow is out for the season and no one knows where he is. Gavin Stone, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, and Clayton Kershaw are all injured. Bobby Miller was one of the worst starting pitchers in all of MLB this year and will not be on the postseason roster. Tony Gonsolin—who has not thrown a pitch in the majors in 13 months and is currently rehabbing in the minors—*could* be an emergency option borne of desperation, but it’s unfair to expect him to be sharp.

It’s possible that Kershaw, who is in excruciating pain due to a bone spur in his big toe, will figure out a way to make himself available even if he has to amputate said toe.

But even if Kershaw pitches through pain to give his team a few innings, the situation is bleak. Landon Knack is currently line up to start game 3 of the NLDS. In a world where every Dodger starting pitcher on the 40 man roster was healthy, Knack would be 12th on the depth chart.

The Dodgers are also especially vulnerable because Yamamoto will only be allowed to pitch on five days rest, instead of the standard four, even in October. This means LA will definitely need four starting pitchers to make a deep run in the postseason, and possibly even five (or multiple bullpen games) due to uncertainty surrounding every starting pitcher not named Jack Flaherty.

Shohei Ohtani has not thrown a pitch this season. Could he step up and save them from the mound in October?