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LOS ANGELES — The ballpark fell silent as Shohei Ohtani clutched his left arm and writhed in the dirt. He has come to represent so much for the Los Angeles Dodgers: Their finest player, their financial lodestar, the star who forged the team’s path back to the World Series. He catalyzes the present and allows them to fantasize about the future. So Dodger Stadium engaged in a collective gasp when Ohtani jammed his left arm into the ground while attempting to steal second base in the seventh inning of Game 2 against the New York Yankees, with the Dodgers steaming toward an eventual 4-2 victory.
The injury cast a pall over an otherwise charmed night for the Dodgers. The trio of Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman combined to swat home runs off Yankees starter Carlos Rodón. Yoshinobu Yamamoto authored the finest outing of his Dodgers career. The Dodgers demonstrated the depth of their roster besides Ohtani; he went hitless and the club still cruised. It is not a formula the team would prefer to replicate.
The prospect of life without Ohtani is harrowing for the Dodgers. Their only comfort may be that the team requires just two more victories to win a championship. Ohtani exited the premises with a Dodgers trainer after the injury. The team did not require him to return, at least for Saturday.
Shohei Ohtani is coming off the field with the trainer pic.twitter.com/Ueqe8VysNL
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 27, 2024
The Dodgers survived a teeth-gnashing ninth inning in which closer Blake Treinen yielded a run and loaded the bases before escaping with an assist from lefty reliever Alex Vesia.
Handed a lead, Yamamoto limited the Yankees to one run in 6 1/3 innings while wielding his split-fingered fastball like a scythe. The only hit he permitted was a solo home run by Juan Soto. On two occasions, Yamamoto struck out Aaron Judge, the presumptive American League MVP, who has been quiet these past two nights.
The struggles of Judge figure to dominate the headlines as the series returns to New York. He may not be a bigger star than Shohei Ohtani. But he may be more important to the Yankees than Ohtani is to the Dodgers. Ohtani’s health leaves him a question mark for Game 3. The Yankees are still waiting for Judge to show up.
The game could not rival the hysterics from Friday evening, when Freeman mirrored 1988 World Series Kirk Gibson with a walk-off grand slam. The intervening hours had allowed each team time to process Game 1 and attempt to decompress. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gathered his family at home later that night to watch highlights. Yankees manager Aaron Boone checked in with several players and pronounced himself pleased with their willingness to turn the page. “If you’re a baseball fan,” Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said in the afternoon, “you really enjoyed that game last night.”
Game 2 pitted a pair of starters with nine-figure contracts and uncertain expectations. Rodón posted a 3.96 ERA in the second season of his six-year, $162 million deal with the Yankees, an improvement after a miserable first year in The Bronx. Yamamoto, the recipient of a record $324 million pact this past winter, finished with a 3.00 ERA but made only 18 starts after injuring his shoulder in June. Yamamoto was not expected to last deep into the game. Rodón was even more of a wild card, capable of either accumulating strikeouts or melting down.
Rodón permitted 31 home runs during the regular season; only one pitcher allowed more. Edman, the NLCS MVP, jumped him in the second inning. Rodón fell behind in the count and tried a 2-0 fastball. Edman walloped the pitch over the left-field fence for a solo shot.
Yamamoto did not permit a hit until Soto stepped to the plate in the third inning. What separates Soto from his peers is his comfort with two strikes. The situation rarely fazes him. When Yamamoto picked up a second strike, Soto did not waver. He spat on a splitter for a ball and spoiled a slider. Then he launched Yamamoto’s 95-mph fastball into the Yankees bullpen beyond the right-field fence.
The Dodgers delivered a two-out answer in the bottom of the inning. Mookie Betts slashed a single. Teoscar Hernández redirected a 98-mph fastball into the right-center gap for a two-run shot. Six pitches later, Freeman demolished another elevated fastball for a third home run.
FREDDIE FREEMAN GOES BACK-TO-BACK! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/xwRHRb3IoM
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2024
The fifth inning offered Boone a moment to contemplate sliding doors. In the 10th inning of Game 1, he warmed up two left-handed relievers to prepare to face Ohtani and Freeman. Boone opted for Nestor Cortes, a starter who had not pitched in 37 days, over veteran reliever Tim Hill. Cortes got past Ohtani before serving up the walk-off slam to Freeman.
On Saturday, Boone called upon Hill to face Freeman. A runner stood at first base. Hill used his funky sidearm delivery to induce a popup and retire Freeman. Hill faced four batters. He retired them all. The success likely served as cold comfort for Yankees fans still fuming over Boone’s decision in Game 1.
Before the postseason began, the high point of Yamamoto’s season had occurred on June 7. Pitching at Yankee Stadium, he struck out seven in seven scoreless innings. The outing served as the best evidence yet for why the Dodgers committed to him all those dollars over all those years. A week later, Yamamoto hurt his shoulder. He sat out nearly two months. Upon his return, he never pitched past the fifth inning.
Until Saturday.
After Soto took him deep, Yamamoto retired the last 11 hitters he faced. He struck out first baseman Anthony Rizzo with a splitter to finish the fourth. Yamamoto generated a flurry of soft contact before Judge returned for the sixth. When Judge whiffed on a splitter, Yamamoto let out a roar. After he induced a harmless flare from designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton in the seventh, Yamamoto exited to a standing ovation.
(Top photo of Shohei Ohtani after suffering a shoulder injury: Harry How / Getty Images)
