The Dodgers are easing off the accelerator with their most valuable player, at least for a week.
What happened
The team scratched Shohei Ohtani from his scheduled Friday start against the Arizona Diamondbacks and said he will not travel to the All-Star Game, both because of irritation in his left knee, ABC7 reported. The Dodgers said Ohtani would undergo "some interventions on his knee" during the All-Star break to put him "in the best position for the second half of the season."
Crucially, the team is not describing this as a serious injury. Ohtani is expected to remain in the lineup as the designated hitter, the Los Angeles Times reported, meaning the plan is to rest the pitching side of his game and treat the knee, not to shut him down.
A managed issue
The knee irritation is not brand new, and the timing, right before the break, gives the Dodgers a natural window to address it without missing regular-season games. Treating it now, rather than letting it linger, fits a season-long pattern of the team handling its two-way star with an eye on October.
The cost
The trade-off is that fans will not see Ohtani at the All-Star Game, where he had been among the most popular selections. Sitting out the exhibition is the kind of concession a first-place team can make: the Dodgers have been among the best in baseball this season, and preserving Ohtani's health for the stretch run and the playoffs is the clear priority.
What's next
Ohtani is expected to keep hitting through the weekend before using the break for treatment. For the Dodgers, the calculation is straightforward. A healthy Ohtani, dangerous at the plate and on the mound, is worth far more down the stretch than his presence in a July exhibition, and the team is betting a few days of caution now pays off later.
