Shohei Ohtanis injury secrecy could derail Dodgers championship hopes

Shohei Ohtani doesn’t have to prove how much pain he can tolerate. He already did that in the regular season. With the Dodgers set to open their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, this isn’t the time for Ohtani to be a hero.This is the time for Ohtani to be honest.Because if Ohtani remains as physically compromised as he looked in his final at-bats of the regular season, he has to let the Dodgers know.He has to let them so they can figure out a plan to help him survive the three rounds of postseason play that stand between them and their third consecutive World Series championship.He has to let them know so they can have a contingency plan in case his right arm or left knee bother him again to where he can’t take four or five competitive at-bats a game.He has to let them know so that manager Dave Roberts can factor that into his thinking when he constructs the Dodgers’ lineup.“I think the communication has been good and feel confident that he’s going to relay (information) if anything’s different,” general manager Brandon Gomes said.Except Ohtani has a history of not doing that.In fact, he and the Dodgers are in the situation they are in now specifically because he didn’t do that, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman saying “he’s not always the best reporter of how he feels.”That doesn’t excuse the Dodgers’ mismanagement of Ohtani in the regular season.

The front office naively believed his claims that his declining performance wasn’t health-related, ignoring the obvious signs that his right arm and left knee were hurting more than he let on.With the Dodgers failing to protect him from himself, Ohtani eventually landed on the 15-day injured list.  The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.Please provide a valid email.

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