Turns out, Shohei Ohtani was playing through more than just a partially dislocated shoulder in the World Series.
As the Dodgers announced Tuesday, Ohtani also suffered a torn labrum when he injured his left shoulder sliding into second base in Game 2 of the Fall Classic. The slugger underwent arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair the tear, the team said, and “is expected to be ready” for spring training in February.
While the Dodgers managed to defeat the New York Yankees in five games to win their second championship in five season last week, they had to do it with Ohtani playing through visible pain over the Series’ final three games.
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In Game 2, Ohtani jammed his left arm in the ground while sliding into second base on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt. And while he started each of the subsequent three games — at the time, the team only publicly described Ohtani’s injury as a shoulder subluxation — he went just one for 11 the rest of the way.
During those final three games, Ohtani was seen wincing in pain multiple times after swings, and held his left arm to his chest while running the bases.
The good news for the Dodgers is that Ohtani’s injury was to his non-throwing shoulder. Ohtani is expected to join the Dodgers starting rotation next year after being limited to hitting-only this season while recovering from a 2023 Tommy John revision.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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