Dodgers looking for ways to optimize Shohei Ohtani as TWP rule complicates postseason

Dave Roberts confirmed this week that the Dodgers expect to take Shohei Ohtani into the postseason as their DH and as a starter, but there are already a few wrinkles. They still won't let Ohtani pitch past five innings — even if he's throwing a no-hitter — and they're going to need length out of their starters if their bullpen continues to wet the bed through the regular season.

It seems like everyone involved would feel happier and safer with Ohtani in a relief role (and the postseason rotation seems pretty locked with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Clayton Kershaw already), but the wording of MLB's Ohtani Rule probably won't allow it.

Andrew Friedman quibbled with that wording, which technically reads that a two-way player can only remain in the game as a hitter if he exits a start. "I think they missed the mark with it," Friedman said. "I think the rule was put in place to try to encourage people to do it, to incentivize people. So yeah, I think they missed."

Ohtani pitching in relief wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world — he has done it on a competitive level (see: the final inning of the 2023 World Baseball Classic) — but unless the Dodgers use him exclusively as a closer, they'd have to sacrifice at-bats. And we all know they definitely can't afford to lose Ohtani at-bats.

However, the Dodgers are still looking for ways to get around MLB's pesky wording. The latest idea: having Ohtani play outfield so they can use him in relief.

Dodgers could move Shohei Ohtani to outfield to use him in relief during the postseason

Per Michael J. Duarte of NBC LA: "Once he's taken out as a reliever he would also have to be removed as the DH. [...] to circumvent that he could be moved to the outfield and remain in the lineup, or he could just keep pitching in relief and stay in the lineup as the DH until he was removed from the game."

The idea of Ohtani moving to the outfield isn't a new one. Earlier this year, Bob Nightengale cast doubt upon his long-term future as a two-way player and suggested the Dodgers could move him into the outfield or even to first base at some point. He logged 64 games in the outfield when he was in NPB, and a clip of him unleashing a lob that looked a lot like Ichiro's famed Star Wars throw has since gone viral, and he registered 8 1/3 innings in the outfield corners with the Angels back in 2021.

So the Dodgers are dead-set on getting Ohtani onto the mound in October somehow, and it would be pretty thrilling to see him do three things in a single game, but it might come down to technicalities and what MLB allows.