Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani decision raises questions about postseason rotation

During his last outing on the mound, Shohei Ohtani only pitched 3 2/3 innings against the Orioles after a late scratch for Tyler Glasnow. It was far from the longest outing of his season so far, but he still found ways to top himself; 11 of the 70 pitches he threw exceeded 100 MPH as he kept the Orioles scoreless, allowing just three hits and a walk.

Six pitches he threw against his last two batters (both of whom struck out swinging) were above 100, (and two above 101), and the Dodgers pulled him early. Dave Roberts explained, "Even leading up to the fourth inning, there was a lot of stress and a lot of high-velocity pitches. For me, I'm not going to risk him just to get another hitter where we have a guy that's fresh that I felt needs to be able to get those lefties out."

Fans would've liked to see Ohtani go longer — he still hasn't pitched more than five innings — but the Dodgers have to make sure that he doesn't blow his arm out before they need him the most.

Per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Roberts confirmed on Sunday that the Dodgers would bring Ohtani into the postseason as a starter, despite some conversations about converting him into a bullpen arm in October. Roberts added a caveat that things could change when/if the Dodgers get deep into the postseason, but for now the plan is to treat fans to Ohtani's first ever playoff starts.

Dave Roberts confirms Dodgers' goal to have Shohei Ohtani pitch in the postseason

There's no doubt Ohtani's outings in October will be exciting, but there are questions as to who will get bumped from a packed rotation that currently stands at six. Emmet Sheehan is likeliest to be the first moved to the bullpen, but Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Clayton Kershaw still make five when the Dodgers need to whittle down to four.

The Dodgers can change up their rosters from series to series, so everyone could still get a chance to start depending on how far LA actually gets in October, but it's fair to wonder if it would be wise for the Dodgers to push one of their full-time starters for Ohtani.

He's yet to pitch more than five innings, and the bullpen is completely unreliable. He also shook quite a bit during his four August starts, which yielded a 5.71 ERA.

The Dodgers could always have Ohtani open, and then bring in whichever starter they bump as a long reliever, but at that point, would it even be practical to Ohtani pitch at all? It'd probably be better to use him as an X-factor option as they see fit, but we're not sure displacing someone from the current group makes sense.

How the Dodgers figure out how to accommodate their wealth of starting talent is anyone's guess, and they'll probably want to let Ohtani get a little deeper into regular season games before they actually make any hard decisions.