Shohei Ohtani in the Dodgers' lineup for Game 3: 'He wasn't going to not be in there'

Shohei Ohtani wasn’t with the Dodgers as they left the ballpark and headed to the airport on Saturday night, staying back in Los Angeles to get an MRI exam on the left shoulder he partially dislocated in Game 2 of the World Series.

But, before the group was even in the air, Ohtani let his teammates know he wouldn’t be far behind.

“He texted the whole team as we were on our way to the airport and said he was going to be fine [and] he was going to play,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “So we all put it to the side at that moment. We said, ‘All right, he's got us.’ We'll be ready for him to be in the lineup.”

Ohtani was indeed in the lineup Monday night, batting leadoff in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium just as manager Dave Roberts had predicted over the previous two days.

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“He was very adamant that he was going to play,” Roberts said, adding: "He's a competitor. He wasn't going to not be in there."

In the end, there wasn’t much doubt over Ohtani’s game-time status.

Once he landed in New York on Sunday night, Ohtani arrived at Yankee Stadium near the end of the team’s off-day workout and proceeded to take batting practice in the indoor hitting cages.

Some of the swings, Roberts said, caused discomfort in Ohtani’s shoulder. But the MRI exam confirmed he’d suffered no further structural damage. He whacked one ball 102 mph off a tee, Roberts noted with a grin. And the team’s training staff determined that, even if he isn’t at 100%, his performance at the plate should be only minimally compromised.

Thus, Roberts wrote Ohtani’s name at the top of his lineup card.

“I'm just expecting him to control the strike zone, let the at-bats come to him, and swing and fire when the ball's in a hitting zone,” Roberts said. “Again, we're just very grateful that he's in the lineup.”

When Ohtani initially got hurt Saturday, jamming his arm on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt in the seventh inning, there was fear his World Series might be over.

The expected soon-to-be three-time MVP lay on the ground in pain for several moments. He walked off the field with his arm suspended in front of him, telling a trainer he believed his shoulder had popped out. And once that diagnosis was confirmed in the clubhouse, he had to have his shoulder popped back into place.

“Obviously, it was very tough in the moment to see him in pain like that,” Muncy said. “After the game … it was like a buffet line going in there to see how he's doing.”

But once Ohtani’s postgame message landed in the team’s group chat, much of the uncertainty dissipated.

Roberts — who, as manager, isn’t on the team’s player-only group message — only wished he’d known about Ohtani’s text sooner.

“If I saw that thread, I would have slept better Saturday night,” he said jokingly. “I wasn't privy to that until today, so that would have been helpful.”

There are some lingering concerns about Ohtani’s shoulder.

Typically, once a player suffers one subluxation (the official diagnosis of Ohtani’s injury), they are at risk of having the shoulder pop out again, something Roberts acknowledged in his news conference before Game 3.

Roberts also said he didn’t expect Ohtani to be stealing many bases the rest of this series, and that the team will have to re-evaluate how he’s feeling before Game 4.

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“But,” Roberts added of Ohtani’s status beyond Game 3, “I don’t expect a different answer.”

Ohtani will also have to incorporate more treatment into his daily routine, and will be wearing shoulder tape designed to protect and stabilize his shoulder on swings. During pregame introductions on Monday, Ohtani ran out wearing some kind of sling underneath his jacket.

It’s not the ideal situation for the Dodgers’ $700-million slugger to be in, with the club still needing two more wins to claim a World Series championship. But it beats the alternative of not having him at all.

“I think there was more uncertainty in all of our minds [when he first got hurt],” Roberts said. “But in his mind — from day one, from Saturday evening — he was going to play.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.