Dodgers manager says Shohei Ohtanis failed two-way season not a blame game

Late Tuesday night, Dave Roberts’ postgame press conference ended the way too many of them have lately.The Dodgers manager was asked for an update on Shohei Ohtani’s health, then pressed for a prediction about whether or not the two-way star would be in the next day’s lineup.“He’ll be in the lineup tomorrow,” Roberts said on this occasion, after confirming Ohtani had been available off the bench in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.The real problem, however, is that the question has become a daily requisite.In a season that began with so much promise, Ohtani is now limping down the stretch surrounded by a constant cloud of such uncertainty.Before Tuesday’s game, Roberts took time to reflect on Ohtani’s 2026 season –– and how the 32-year-old unicorn went from chasing Cy Young and MVP honors to playing through left knee and right arm injuries that have severely limited his one-of-a-kind skill set.Roberts said he and the club had “learned” important lessons from the experience.He recognized “that sometimes potentially trying to get ahead of managing [Ohtani’s] workload” was a difficult, delicate task.Yet, he was careful not to second-guess the way Ohtani had been handled during his first full two-way season with the club (or, what was supposed to be, anyway).He echoed the same sentiments Ohtani himself had shared the night before, expressing no regrets about the superstar’s usage even in light of the predicament the player and team now find themselves in.“Obviously, probably, you can say a lot [if you] look back,” Roberts said.

“Anyone can do that, and say, ‘What could you have done better or different?’ Absolutely.That’s something going forward we’re gonna look at.

But it’s certainly not a blame game thing.”Such revisionist history dates back to mid-June, when Ohtani first developed his knee problem but initially attempted to try pitching through it.There were then his repeatedly failed efforts to ramp u...