Bill Plaschke has wild Shohei Ohtani plan for Dodgers postseason run

With Shohei Ohtani chasing 50-50, an underlying storyline through his 2024 season has sort of gone by the wayside. As he's been gunning to be the first DH MVP in baseball history, he's also been rehabbing from an elbow surgery last year in order to make it back to the mound in 2025. Ohtani has been exceptional on just one side of the plate this year, but the league has a whole other thing coming soon enough.

Ohtani progressed to throwing off of a mound this month en route to joining the rotation, which will look stacked as long as everyone can stay healthy next season (which, if this year is any indication, they can't, but that's a problem for 2025).

The Dodgers have already shut down the possibility of Ohtani starting a game in the postseason, which makes complete sense. He's making good progress, but they need him for the lineup more than they need him in the rotation, even if Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller look like they may be useless in October.

However, Bill Plaschke of the LA Times, a guy who's known for his bad and/or rage bait takes, wrote that Ohtani could/should be "this season’s savior pitcher" as a late-inning reliever in October.

Bill Plaschke wants Shohei Ohtani to be "the season's savior pitcher" for Dodgers in the postseason

It's easy to see what Plaschke is envisioning here. He's thinking about Ohtani in the last inning of the last game of the World Baseball Classic last year, striking out Mike Trout to win the tournament for Japan. He's imagining Ohtani doing the same against the All-Star lineup in Philly, or maybe even the always inevitable Astros.

This is not a good idea. It's unlikely that Ohtani will face non-Dodgers hitters in game scenarios until spring training of next year, as LA would be loathe to make their leadoff man indisposed with a Triple-A rehab assignment at any point this year or next. He's only just started throwing off a mound recently, and pushing him to build intensity to the point that he'd be ready for something as high leverage as the postseason? It's just not going to happen.

Ohtani and the Dodgers are taking their time, as they should. The bullpen isn't even the problem for this team, given the rotation's recent recession. The bullpen is solid, especially with Michael Kopech doing what he's been doing since the trade deadline. The Dodgers need Ohtani in the lineup and focusing on putting up big leads, not splitting his attention between that and a potential ninth-inning entrance, especially not when he's not even close to that kind of readiness.

Patience is a virtue, and all that. We shouldn't see (and shouldn't even really hope to see) Ohtani on the mound until next season, and he'll be better off for it.