The Los Angeles Dodgers are in no hurry to get Shohei Ohtani back on the mound, and Saturday was another reminder of why, ESPN reports.

What happened

Ohtani did not throw a scheduled bullpen session Saturday because of ongoing discomfort in his left knee. Manager Dave Roberts said there had been "a little bit of regression" since Ohtani's previous bullpen on Wednesday, and laid out the team's philosophy plainly: "We're not going to move forward until he feels 100% confident, we feel 100% confident."

That is the whole story of his pitching year in one sentence. Ohtani, 32, has not pitched since July 3 against San Diego. He had been lined up to start last Wednesday against Philadelphia and was scratched. Before the knee flared up this month, his pitching line was excellent, a 1.79 ERA across 14 starts, which is exactly why the Dodgers would rather lose those starts now than risk the arm and the knee together on a rushed return.

The part that matters for the lineup

Here is the reassuring half, and the Dodgers have been careful to separate the two. Roberts said the knee problem affects only pitching, not hitting or running. Ohtani has kept his everyday role as the leadoff designated hitter, starting the past 15 games there and hitting .282 with 22 home runs and 61 RBIs.

So the practical situation is narrower than "Ohtani is hurt." He is playing every day and producing at the plate; what is on hold is the two-way part of his game, the pitching, and only until the knee cooperates. For a team built to win now, losing his bat would be the crisis. Losing his starts for a few weeks is a manageable inconvenience.

Why the caution is not new

The knee is not a fresh mystery. Ohtani had a procedure in 2019 for a congenital condition, a bipartite patella, and has dealt with periodic flare-ups since. That history is the reason the Dodgers are treating a bullpen session like a decision rather than a formality. A recurring, structural issue is exactly the kind you manage conservatively over a long season rather than push through for one start.

There is no timeline, and Roberts did not offer one, which is itself the message: the return depends on how the knee feels, not on a date circled on a calendar. For Dodgers fans the takeaway is calm rather than alarming. The best hitter in the lineup is fine and in the lineup; the pitcher will come back when the knee says so, and not before.

The Herald will report Ohtani's next scheduled bullpen and any update on when he might rejoin the rotation.