Checking in on former Angel Shohei Ohtani's World Series performance after injury

Shohei Ohtani suffered a left shoulder injury during Game 2 of the World Series on a stolen base attempt. The injury is being designated as a "minor dislocation" according to Alden González, the technical diagnosis is a subluxation of his left shoulder. A subluxation is "a condition that occurs when the ball at the top of the upper arm bone comes out of the socket only partially, as opposed to completely, which happens during a dislocation."

In the bottom of the 7th, Ohtani was caught stealing second base. He was writhing in pain for a prolonged amount of time while the Dodgers' trainer tended to him. After deafening silence during his time on the dirt, Ohtani got up and walked off the field to massive applause from the Dodgers' crowd. Dave Roberts, when asked if his team could handle Ohtani's potential unavailability, said: "I'm not there. I'm expecting him to be there. I'm expecting him to be in the lineup."

Ohtani is a super-human. The work he puts in every day to get his body ready for games is unparalleled throughout the league. As a two-way player, Ohtani has to do a vast amount of preparation to get himself ready to both hit and pitch over the course of a 162 game season. When you factor in his rehab process for his UCL, there is no other player who puts in as much work as Ohtani. He will get himself ready, despite the inevitable discomfort in his shoulder, and put himself in the best position possible to play Game 3. He did not miss a single game this season because of an injury, and he will not start now. Would anybody be surprised if he goes yard in the first at bat of Game 3 off Clarke Schmidt.

While Ohtani was playing for the Los Angeles Angels, he routinely hit home runs in the games he was pitching. He would show up the day after a start with heavy legs and still club home runs. On August 23rd, 2023, Ohtani tore his UCL, but he continued hitting and still was able to produce at a high level until he strained his oblique a week and a half later. This season, he led the National League in home runs while tending to said UCL injury. In 2019, Ohtani also did not pitch due to a UCL injury. That season, with the Angels, he still posted a .286/.343/.505/.848 slash line.

Shohei Ohtani is not performing that well in the World Series, and is now managing an injury

Short-term, given what's at stake, Ohtani will likely brave through the pain. He certainly needs to play to give the Dodgers their best chance at closing the series, but also to boost his mediocre World Series stats thus far.

Aaron Judge's poor performance during the Yankees' two losses is overshadowing Ohtani. Ohtani is a relatively quiet 1 for 8 with a walk, two strikeouts, and a caught stealing. His only hit was a big one, a 1-out double in the bottom of the 8th of Game 1 in which he advanced to third base on an error. Mookie Betts drove him in with a sacrifice fly to center field, tying the game at 2-2.

All eyes are on Ohtani right now, he is the biggest star in a World Series full of them. He simply cannot miss any games with his stat line being what it is right now. He needs to gut through this injury and prove to the world why he could be the greatest player in the history of the sport.

For Angels fans, Ohtani not performing up to his standards, potentially missing time, and the Dodgers taking a 2-0 series lead is as bad as it gets. Throughout the playoffs, the Angels organization has taken potshot after potshot given how far Ohtani's going in the playoffs with the Angels' biggest rival. For six years, Ohtani had to play perfect games in order for the Angels to even compete in regular season games, and even that was not good enough. His new team playing well enough to win the World Series while Ohtani struggles and/or misses games is a worst case scenario.

The reverse 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle plot line stinks.