Shohei Ohtani’s NLCS Starting Pitching Assignment Revealed Ahead of Game 2

Shohei Ohtani’s first NL Championship Series mound appearance for the Dodgers won’t come until Game 4 in Los Angeles on Friday.

Tyler Glasnow will start Game 3 and Ohtani will work Game 4, manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday, a day after his team beat Milwaukee 2-1 in the opener..

Ohtani made his postseason pitching debut Oct. 4 and allowed three runs over six innings for a 5-3 win over Philadelphia in the first game of the NL Division Series.

"Shohei has been fine with rest," Roberts said. "(This) potentially lines him up if we need a Game 7 out of the 'pen. Game 3, we feel that Tyler is on regular rest, so it kind of lines him up as well. So just kind of all these things just made sense."

Roberts said before the NLCS that delaying Ohtani’s pitching performance had nothing to do with the three-time MVP’s hitting slump. The two-way star went 1 of 18 with nine strikeouts against Philadelphia.

Ohtani was 0 for 2 and walked three times Monday against the Brewers.

Ohtani could win his fourth MVP award after hitting .282 with a .392 on-base percentage, 55 homers, 102 RBIs and 20 steals. He returned to the mound on June 16 following elbow surgery in September 2023 and went 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 62 strikeouts over 47 innings in 14 starts.

Glasnow went 4-3 with a 3.19 ERA during the regular season and threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings in the NLDS.

Blake Snell started Monday and the two-time Cy Young Award winner allowed one hit while facing the minimum 24 batters through eight innings. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was slated to start Game 2.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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