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LA – MLB has altered a rule that favors the Dodgers and Ohtani. This is not the first time MLB has done this in recent history, but it affects other MLB teams more this time than ever before. In 2022, MLB changed the universal DH role to say that if the starting pitcher was in the batting lineup and pulled from the game, the pitcher can continue to hit in their lineup spot. Before this rule, if a pitcher was pulled from the game, specifically in National League games, the new pitcher would be slotted into the lineup at their spot, and teams would have to use pinch hitters if the pitcher was a bad hitter.
This rule became known as the Shohei Ohtani rule, and MLB has a new one. This rule is a little bit more directed at Ohtani because it has to do with roster spots. Previously, if a Two-Way player could not play one of the positions temporarily (typically due to injury), the team would receive an extra roster spot for ONLY 1 season. If the injury spilled into the following season, the team would loose a roster spot, typically a pitcher.
Now, before people go nuts saying that this happened when he was with the Angels, hold your breath. When Ohtani was with the Angels, as previously mentioned, it was only a 1 season fix with the extra roster spot. MLB conveniently changed this rule when Ohtani would not be able to start the 2025 season pitching. This should have costed the Dodgers a roster spot, but because of the conveniently timed rule change it didn’t.
The Dodgers also have some issues to work out in their pitching rotation. No, not injuries (yet), but with the amount of starting pitching depth they have, especially when Ohtani returns to pitching in May. The problem with all this depth is each team is allocated 13 roster spots for pitching (typically 5 for starters, 8 for relievers), and the Dodgers have 7 starting pitchers, excluding Ohtani and Kershaw (injury) that will be ready to pitch opening day, and only 1 of these pitchers has options to the minor leagues. So, who’s going on the IL?
