Is Shohei Ohtani pitching today? Opponent, schedule, projected numbers & more

The Los Angeles Dodgers fans will watch three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani take the mound today for the first time since his $700 million move to the National League West team.

Ohtani was shut down from pitching during his time with the Los Angeles Angels and underwent Tommy John Surgery in September 2023. He was restricted to being a designated hitter for the Dodgers in his first season with the team in 2024.

While the Japanese phenom was expected to make a return to pitching this year, a shoulder injury during last year's World Series served as a scare to the Dodgers faithful.

However, after ramping up his pitching sessions over the last few weeks, with Ohtani facing live hitters, the Japanese phenom is set to resume his two-way role against the San Diego Padres.

Opponent

Shohei Ohtani will make his pitching return against the Dodgers' NL West rivals, the San Diego Padres. The three-time MVP will be up against Padres ace Dylan Cease, who was lights out in his last outing against the defending World Series winners. Cease pitched seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts in an 11-1 win over the Dodgers last Tuesday.

Schedule

Ohtani will take the mound for the first time in more than a year in the series opener against the Padres on Monday, with the game scheduled to start at 10:10 p.m. ET.

Projected numbers

While Shohei Ohtani is slated to start in the first game of the highly anticipated series, the Japanese phenom is likely to serve only as an opener and won't be pitching more than three innings. He is likely to rack up four strikeouts in his first start of the season.

Prediction

Although Shohei Ohtani's pitching return will be the headline act of the contest, the Dodgers slugger has 25 home runs this season and has been hot at the plate. He is expected to lead the NL West leaders to a win in the series opener.

Score Prediction: Dodgers 6, Padres 4

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash