LOS ANGELES — Just when it seemed everything was going the Dodgers’ way in the World Series, they saw the sport’s best player writhing in pain at second base in the bottom of the seventh of their 4-2 win over the Yankees in Game 2 of World Series, as Shohei Ohtani had to be helped off the field after he injured his left arm sliding into second base.
Dave Roberts said Ohtani was diagnosed with a left shoulder subluxation, which is a partial dislocation.
Ohtani will go for an MRI exam Sunday, but Roberts said the initial reports were good.
“The strength was great,’’ Roberts said. “The range of motion [was] good. So we’re encouraged. But, obviously, I can’t speculate because we don’t get the scans yet.”
Ohtani suffered the injury as he attempted to steal second base with two outs in the seventh and when he slid, he planted his left hand and jammed it.
Ohtani called for time and laid on the ground at second base, as a previously raucous Dodger Stadium crowd grew quiet.
Roberts and the training staff attended to Ohtani, who was helped to his feet and kept his arm still as he walked off the field.
“The scene [was] very concerning,’’ Roberts said. “Obviously, when you get any one of your players that goes down, it’s concerning. But after [the] range of motion and the strength tests, I felt much better about it.”
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“He’s the best player in the game, and to see him on the ground in pain, it’s not a good feeling, for sure,’’ Tommy Edman said.
Ohtani is in his first year with Los Angeles after signing a 10-year, $700 million contract in the offseason.
He didn’t pitch this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2023 while with the Angels.
There was speculation Ohtani could return to the mound this postseason before the Dodgers shut it down and now they have another potentially serious injury to worry about.
Ohtani is coming off a one-of-a-kind regular season during which he became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases.
The accomplishment led Aaron Judge to call Ohtani “the best player in the game” before the World Series began.
The 30-year-old Ohtani is playing in his first postseason after missing out on October in each of his first six seasons in the majors, and homered three times in the first two rounds of the postseason before going 1-for-5 in the Dodgers’ Game 1 win and 0-for-3 with a walk in Game 2.
It was directly after his walk with one out in the seventh that Ohtani attempted the potentially fateful steal that could impact the rest of the World Series.