Shohei Ohtani teases possible positional changes as Dodgers look ahead to MLB playoffs

The Dodgers have not yet locked up the NL West but they are all but guaranteed a postseason berth

Tuesday night was a bad night for the Los Angeles Dodgers but a great night for Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers lost a heartbreaker to the Philadelphia Phillies (PHI 9, LA 6) while Ohtani threw five no-hit innings and hit his 50th home run. What a crazy sentence. He threw five no-hit innings and hit his 50th home run. An unparalleled player, Ohtani is.

Los Angeles has had bullpen issues all season and particularly of late. Their rotation, on the other hand, is the healthiest it's been in quite some time. The Dodgers are using a six-man rotation with Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Emmet Sheehan, Blake Snell, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Sheehan has a 3.17 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 65 ⅓ innings as the No. 6 starter.

How the NL West-leading Dodgers align their October rotation remains to be seen, though given the bullpen's issues, it stands to reason whichever starters are not in the postseason rotation will be used in relief. There is just way too much talent in the rotation and way too many questions in the bullpen to leave, say, Kershaw or Sheehan off the roster in October.

Using Ohtani out of the bullpen could be an option as well. We've seen Ohtani pitch in relief in the past -- he famously came out of the bullpen to strike out Mike Trout and close out the World Baseball Classic Championship Game two years ago. It's not quite that simple though. Using Ohtani in relief would require roster machinations that are not necessary when he starts.

MLB's rules allow Ohtani to remain in the game as the DH after he exits as the starting pitcher. To use Ohtani (or anyone) in relief though would require forfeiting the DH, and the Dodgers don't want to take his bat out of the lineup, especially in the playoffs. So, the possibility of Ohtani playing the outfield has at least been discussed, he acknowledged Tuesday.

"I've been having various conversations with different people and (pitching in relief) has come up as well," Ohtani told reporters, including Dodgers Nation. "That applies to the mound and possibly even the outfield. If I end up going as a reliever, then depending on what follows, there could be situations where I also need to play defense in the outfield. So no matter what situation arises, I want to make sure I'm prepared to handle it."

Ohtani played 64 games in the outfield in Japan, most of them in 2013, and he played seven games (8 ⅓ innings) in the outfield with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021 (he did not have a fielding chance). Before the rule change in 2022, the Angels had to forfeit the DH once Ohtani exited the game as the starting pitcher. They put him in the outfield a few times in 2021 to get him another at-bat.

If the Dodgers use Ohtani in relief, the easiest move would be using him as the closer. Let him start the game at DH, then bring him in as the last pitcher of the night so you don't have to worry about forfeiting the DH and putting him in the outfield. And if Ohtani blows the lead and the game continues, you deal with the DH/outfield situation then and not a moment sooner.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Ohtani has not done any preparation work in the outfield, though that is perhaps not something that will require much time. He's played the outfield before and it's unlikely the Dodgers would ask him to play a full nine-inning game in the outfield. An inning or two in the outfield after pitching in relief is more likely.

The 31-year-old superstar is hitting .282/.395/.611 with 50 home runs this year. He's also thrown 41 innings with a 3.29 ERA and 54 strikeouts. Ohtani is well positioned to win his fourth MVP award (-10000, per DraftKings), which would be the second most all-time behind Barry Bonds' seven.