Shohei Ohtani’s text message to Dodgers teammates puts more pressure on the Yankees

A rare hush fell over Dodger Stadium on Saturday night during the seventh inning of Game 2 of the World Series. Shohei Ohtani, who was caught only four times in 56 steal attempts during the regular season, shot from second on a slider to Teoscar Hernández. Austin Wells aimed the ball to Gleyber Torres, who caught it and swung his arm down to grab Ohtani before his foot hit the bag. The Yankees began to clear the field as the inning turned, but Ohtani stayed down.

He was diagnosed a partial dislocation of his shoulderbut was in the starting lineup for Game 3 and advanced”80% of his usual routineat Yankee Stadium before the game, manager Dave Roberts said.

On MLB Network prior to Game 3, Roberts told the panel that Ohtani texted his teammates the night he suffered the injury, saying, “(I’m) going to play no matter whatRoberts joked, “I wish I had gotten that note so I could have slept a lot better the last few nights.” I’m not on the team thread!”

Shohei Ohtani told Dodgers teammates he would play in the World Series Game 3 “no matter what.”

Ohtani has never seen a postseason before, and he told reporters he came to the United States for exactly this reason: to play in the World Series. If we had to guess, it would probably take a completely broken bone to keep him off the field.

The Dodgers are up 2-0 against the Yankees, and while more improbable or equally improbable comebacks have happened before (in 1996 the Yankees themselves came back from 2-0 against the Braves to win the series in six), the Dodgers have an incredible upper hand here that they can’t spoil. Only one team has come back from 3-0 in the postseason: the 2004 Red Sox against the Yankees (and those Red Sox had a lot more heart in them than these Yankees).

Ohtani has gone 2-for-8 so far at this year’s Fall Classic, and while he already proved his chops in October, he wants to walk away with plenty more to show for his efforts heading into the eighth ring of the Dodgers. .

If LA had lost Ohtani, it would have been a huge blow, not only to the Dodgers’ offense, but to the team’s morale as a whole. But he will be at the top of the lineup for Game 3loyal as ever, to try to help the devastated Yankees fans in their own stadium.