Shohei Ohtani resuming throwing progression isn't the good news Dodgers need right now

The Los Angeles Dodgers are no strangers to being stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Shohei Ohtani.

In 2025, when he was building back up as a pitcher after more than a full calendar year away the mound, the Dodgers put on kid gloves and guided him through a tricky rehab; scheduling bullpens and live batting practices before or after games or on off-days before having him pitch in what amounted to a rehab assignment in the major leagues.

It was a slow process, but LA could not afford to lose their marquee player to the IL. Fans clung to every update before Ohtani finally made his Dodgers pitching debut in June.

This time around, with Ohtani off the mound since July 3 while battling knee issues, his build-up has been met with far less fanfare. He played catch on Saturday and will do so again on Monday, but what would normally be cause for celebration has been dampened by the team's 1-8 record since July 31.

Dodgers pitching, though a concern, has been less so than their offense, which has lost half of those eight games by just a single run. Ohtani is batting a perfect .300/.400/.500 in August, but his performance at the plate has not been exempt from the ire of Dodgers' fans.

Shohei Ohtani's throwing progression is getting lost underneath Dodgers' offensive struggles

Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Dodgers' loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday night, which basically set Dodgers' social media ablaze.

This is a gross overstatement — again, Ohtani is hitting .300 with a .900 OPS this month and he was responsible for the game-winning infield single that got the Dodgers their only win during this stretch (with some help from Arizona's defense). Still, it speaks to the new heights Dodgers' fans frustration are reaching as the entire offense fails to come up in high leverage moments.

It's clear that the entire Dodgers offense is pressing, but Ohtani should be the least of our worries. Mookie Betts is hitting a horrifying .185 with a .426 OPS this month, Freddie Freeman has a .276 and .576 OPS, while Max Muncy owns a .182 batting average and .568 OPS.

The Dodgers might just need to punch down at the Kansas City Royals early this week (with both Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell on the mound for this series) to get back into a groove. Fans should all keep themselves from fully sounding the alarms until then.

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