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Dodgers Remain Hopeful But Uncertain on Shohei Ohtani's Pitching Return

The Los Angeles Dodgers are still aiming to have Shohei Ohtani pitch again this season, but manager Dave Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acknowledge uncertainty and are weighing risks to his offensive production. Ohtani's planned one-inning start was scrapped after he felt discomfort in a bullpen session, and he will not throw for at least a week.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Sep 2, 2026 Published 2h ago

distinct = voices after wire copies and reprints of the same article collapse; mastheads = publisher names; articles = URLs

Uncertainty Clouds Ohtani's Pitching Return

The Los Angeles Dodgers are keeping the door open for Shohei Ohtani to return to the mound this season, but both manager Dave Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman concede that the path is far from clear. Ohtani, who has not pitched for the Dodgers since July 3, saw his planned one-inning start against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday scrapped after he did not feel fully recovered from a bullpen session.

Roberts acknowledged the team is not certain if Ohtani will pitch again this year, citing the ongoing issues with his biceps and knee. The manager said Ohtani will not throw for at least a week, after which the team will reassess. "I do think that there’s going to be a conversation that needs to be had this week about what the outlook is," Roberts said, according to the New York Post.

Friedman, speaking to the California Post in an interview on Tuesday, said the organization still aims to have Ohtani pitch in 2024. "Obviously, it’s tricky navigating a build-up progression with someone who is also DH’ing by night," he said, adding that Ohtani "obviously wants to get back out there, helping the team on the mound as well."

Ramp-Up Setbacks

Ohtani's latest attempt to return to pitching stalled over the past week. Friedman noted that Ohtani initially "felt great" as he began his most recent ramp-up, but that he "felt it a little bit more" after a 30-pitch live session on Aug. 22. The session on Friday was shortened to just 20 pitches, and the team ultimately decided that proceeding with Sunday's start "just felt rushed to us."

Roberts painted an uncertain picture of Ohtani's status, saying the four-time MVP is not expected to start a game for at least the next week. The delay makes it increasingly unlikely that Ohtani could be built up to make starts of normal length in the playoffs, as reported by NBC Sports.

Balancing Offense and Pitching

A central consideration for the Dodgers is the potential toll that pitching could take on Ohtani's offensive production. Roberts emphasized that the team must weigh the risks of overextending Ohtani's biceps and knee against his value as a hitter.

"His value offensively is hugely important," Roberts said. "So if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze."

Friedman was non-committal when asked whether the Dodgers could decide to shut Ohtani down from pitching entirely for the rest of the season. The decision, he suggested, will depend on how Ohtani responds in the coming days and what the team's medical staff advises.

How each outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

Nbc Sports

Framing: Emphasizes the team's uncertainty about Ohtani's pitching availability for the playoffs.

as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC

Facts Included:

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team is not certain if Shohei Ohtani (biceps/knee) will be able to return as a pitcher this season.
Ohtani was set to make a one-inning start on Sunday against the Tigers, but he didn’t feel 100 percent after a bullpen session, so that plan was scrapped.
Roberts said that the plan for now is that Ohtani won’t throw for at least a week and the team will determine next steps from there.
That timeline obviously means that Ohtani’s chance of getting built up to make normal-length starts in the playoffs is highly unlikely.
The Dodgers now have to have a discussion about whether or not him pitching at all is worth any injury risk to his knee or biceps.
As Roberts said, “His value offensively is hugely important, so if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze.”

Read the source article →

New York Post

Framing: Highlights the Dodgers' continued hope for Ohtani's return as a pitcher. — Measured and cautiously optimistic.

as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Ohtani's expected start last Sunday was scuttled because of ongoing issues with his knee and biceps injuries.
Andrew Friedman said the team is still aiming to have Ohtani pitch again this year.
Friedman told the California Post in an interview on Tuesday.
Ohtani has not made a pitching start for the Dodgers since July 3.
The team backtracked on its tentative aim of having Ohtani make a one-inning start in Detroit on Sunday.
Manager Dave Roberts painted an uncertain picture of Ohtani’s status as a pitcher.
Roberts said the four-time MVP is not expected to start a game for at least the next week.
Friedman said Ohtani had initially “felt great” as he began his most recent ramp-up process.
Ohtani “felt it a little bit more” after a 30-pitch live session on Aug. 22.
The Friday session was shortened to just 20 pitches.
Friedman said the team decided that following through on his Sunday start would have “just felt rushed to us.”
Friedman was non-committal when asked if the Dodgers could shut Ohtani down from pitching.

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the mastheads we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimDodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team is not certain if Shohei Ohtani will be able to return as a pitcher this season.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Nbc Sports as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC
ClaimShohei Ohtani was set to make a one-inning start on Sunday against the Tigers, but he didn’t feel 100 percent after a bullpen session, so the plan was scrapped.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Nbc Sports as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC
ClaimDodgers manager Dave Roberts said the plan is that Ohtani won’t throw for at least a week, and the team will determine next steps from there.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Nbc Sports as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC
ClaimOhtani’s chance of getting built up to make normal-length starts in the playoffs is highly unlikely due to the delay.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via Nbc Sports as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC
ClaimThe Dodgers have to have a discussion about whether Ohtani pitching at all is worth any injury risk to his knee or biceps.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Nbc Sports as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC
ClaimDave Roberts said, 'His value offensively is hugely important, so if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Nbc Sports as of Sep 2, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC, New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimShohei Ohtani's expected start last Sunday was scuttled because of ongoing issues with his knee and biceps injuries.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimAndrew Friedman said the team is still aiming to have Ohtani pitch again this year.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimAndrew Friedman told the California Post in an interview on Tuesday that 'Obviously, it’s tricky navigating a build-up progression with someone who is also DH’ing by night.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimOhtani has not made a pitching start for the Dodgers since July 3.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe Dodgers backtracked on their tentative aim of having Ohtani make a one-inning start in Detroit on Sunday.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimDave Roberts said Tuesday that the four-time MVP is not expected to start a game for at least the next week.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimFriedman said Ohtani had initially 'felt great' as he began his most recent ramp-up process last month.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimOhtani 'felt it a little bit more' after a 30-pitch live session on Aug. 22.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe Friday session was shortened to just 20 pitches.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimFriedman said the team decided that following through on Ohtani's Sunday start would have 'just felt rushed to us.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC
ClaimFriedman was non-committal when asked if the Dodgers could shut Ohtani down from pitching.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via New York Post as of Sep 2, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles consulted: Nbc Sports, New York Post 17 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-09-02