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Shohei Ohtani was held out of the Dodgers’ starting lineup on Friday, one day after leaving the team’s 8-6 win against the Pirates with knee inflammation, per the LA Times. Manager Dave Roberts had expressed optimism Thursday night that Ohtani would not miss additional time for the ailment, but the club clearly decided to give him at least one day off the field.

This is a situation that carries real weight given Ohtani’s surgical history on his left knee. He underwent a procedure during the 2024 offseason to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder — but more relevantly, his knees have been a recurring point of monitoring throughout his career, particularly as he carries the dual workload that no other player in the modern game attempts. Ohtani has been the centerpiece of this Dodgers lineup since arriving in Los Angeles, and any hint of a lower-body issue — especially inflammation, which can linger — gets everyone’s attention. We covered the initial exit and the team’s optimistic tone last night, but being scratched from the lineup the very next day is a new and notable development (and this one bears watching).

Ohtani’s 2026 season has been characteristically dominant. He’s the engine that drives everything we do offensively, and losing him for even a handful of games creates a cascading effect through the lineup. Roberts has generally been cautious with his star, which is the right approach. Sitting him Friday after publicly saying he expected Ohtani to be available suggests the knee didn’t respond overnight the way the staff hoped — or at minimum, that the organization decided the risk-reward calculation favored rest over pushing it in a mid-June game.

I want to be clear: there’s no indication this is heading toward an IL stint. Roberts was optimistic Thursday, and holding a player out of one lineup after an early exit is standard operating procedure, not a red flag by itself. But the context matters. This is a player the Dodgers are building around for the next decade. They also just dealt with Ohtani leaving a game early alongside Jordan Wrobleski, and the club is already navigating Will Smith‘s IL stint for a neck injury. The last thing this team needs is another key player missing extended time.

For now, the most likely scenario is that Ohtani gets a day — maybe two — and slides back into the lineup once the inflammation calms down. But if this stretches into the weekend series or we hear anything about imaging or further evaluation, the calculus changes quickly. The Dodgers are deep enough to absorb a short absence. A longer one would be a different conversation entirely. We’ll update this as soon as there’s more from the club.

Source(s): Staff (LA Times) | First reported: June 12, 2026 9:04 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers