NEW YORK -- On the bus ride to the airport after their win in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night, the players on the
Los Angeles Dodgers felt their phones begin to buzz. A new message had popped into their group chat. It was from
Shohei Ohtani.
Earlier that night, Ohtani had jammed his left shoulder while sliding into second base on an attempted steal. He left the field immediately, cradling his arm. Both the dugout and Dodger Stadium fell silent. At first glance, trainers feared the injury was severe. At that point on the bus, none of his teammates knew what to think. Until they read the message.
"Nice game, guys," Ohtani wrote. "Last time, Bellinger's shoulder was dislocated. This time, my shoulder was dislocated. This is a good sign for a world champion."
The message invigorated Dodgers players. In 2020, when they last won the World Series, star
Cody Bellinger dislocated his right shoulder when he forearm-smashed teammate
Kiké Hernández to celebrate a clutch National League Championship Series home run. Bellinger played in the World Series. And after their phones dinged again and they saw another message, Dodgers players were convinced Ohtani would continue to do the same.
"I'll do my best to play the day after tomorrow," Ohtani wrote. "See you in New York."
Ohtani did play Monday night in Game 3, a 4-2 victory against the
New York Yankees that left Los Angeles one win shy of that world championship. As hairy as those early moments looked -- Ohtani laying on the ground in pain, saying he had injured his non-throwing shoulder -- the Dodgers' $700 million star was confident he would play through pain within minutes.
Immediately after he left the field in Game 2 holding his shoulder, Ohtani was spirited into the X-ray room adjacent to Los Angeles' dugout. Dodgers staffers congregated in the area, praying for good news. They got it with the initial diagnosis of a subluxation, or partial dislocation, similar to what Bellinger suffered -- an injury the Dodgers believed Ohtani could play through.
As the team flew to New York that night, Ohtani stayed behind. He received further imaging the next morning that confirmed the diagnosis, and when it was validated, he hopped on a cross-country flight Sunday. Ohtani arrived at Yankee Stadium around 8 p.m., when the Dodgers' buses were leaving from their workout. Only a few people stayed behind: Ohtani, manager Dave Roberts, hitting coaches Aaron Bates and Robert Van Scoyoc, game-planning coach J.T. Watkins, orthopedist Dr. Michael Banffy, head athletic trainer Thomas Albert and assistant athletic trainer Yosuke Nakajima.
They began their work around 8:45 with a simple goal: Ensure that Ohtani's shoulder could withstand swinging. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Ohtani generates immense force with his swing, and one broken link in his kinetic chain could cause the entire apparatus to fail. They needed to be certain. Rather than have Ohtani hit off a machine -- that was too intense for this stage of their observation -- they tossed him light flips and watched him hit off a tee. A Blast sensor on the knob of his bat measured his swing speed. A Pocket Radar clocked the approximate velocity of the balls he hit.
By no means was Ohtani swinging full speed. The Dodgers feared that if he did, he might wake up in even more pain Monday, the day of Game 3.
"You're testing the stove to see how hot it is, so you touch it lighter," Bates said. "He didn't want to let it go fully because he didn't want to be sore. But he's so strong and so explosive he doesn't need to fully let it go to be good."
Dodgers players, who had headed to a team dinner, received the good news from the stadium: Ohtani had made it through the latest tests with flying colors. All he needed to do was wake up Monday morning feeling well, and he would be in the lineup.
The next day, the training staff lacquered Ohtani's shoulder with kinesiology tape to help stabilize it. Ohtani went through his standard routine at the stadium. and about 20 minutes before the game, went into the batting cage for his front toss and tee work. He again skipped hitting off a machine, a typical part of his routine, out of an abundance of caution.
When the lineups were released, Ohtani was in it, batting his customary leadoff.
The Dodgers were concerned about the long pregame introductions and cold weather causing issues, so when Ohtani went on to the field, he was wearing what looked like a sling but was actually a heat pack to keep the joint loose. He ditched the heat pack before his first plate appearance against Yankees starter
Clarke Schmidt, who made it easy on Ohtani by not throwing a ball in the strike zone. While taking his lead at first base, Ohtani cradled his left arm, as if an imaginary sling were supporting it.
"It was kind of like what [Edwin] Encarnacion used to look when he hit a home run," Bates said of the longtime slugger who ran the bases with his arm cocked at 90 degrees and parallel to the ground, ready for an imaginary parrot to perch atop it.
Ohtani wouldn't spend long on first.
Freddie Freeman, himself bedeviled by injuries this postseason, staked the Dodgers a 2-0 lead with a home run to right field.
"I mean, there's no point in saving our bodies now," said Dodgers superutilityman
Tommy Edman, who subluxed his shoulder in high school and eventually had surgery to repair it. "We're giving it everything we got, and then we have four months to recover in the offseason. This is the whole reason we play. We grind the whole year to be able to play in the World Series, and so we're going to do whatever it takes to be out there."
For Ohtani, it took some luck -- a right-shoulder injury, like Bellinger's, would have been far more problematic to play through -- as well as some grit.
"He's tough, man," said Dodgers second baseman
Gavin Lux, himself playing through a lingering hip injury. "This guy's superhuman. So you don't doubt that he's going to find a way, no matter what, to be in there."
In his second plate appearance, Ohtani rolled over a high sinker to ground out to second base. His third time up, he worked a seven-pitch at-bat before flailing at a low
Nestor Cortes cutter. Left-hander
Tim Hill jammed Ohtani in his next at-bat, inducing a popout to third base. And then a 92 mph
Luke Weaver cutter nicked the top of his foot in the ninth, when the Yankees scored their first runs on a two-run
Alex Verdugo home run.
Though he finished hitless, Ohtani was satisfied with the outcome of the game as well as how his shoulder felt after it ended.
"The pain has subsided," Ohtani said, "so I felt pretty good about it."
At times, Ohtani winced during swings, which prompted some concern. He thought nothing of it, nor did Roberts. It is October. It is the World Series. It is, as Ohtani himself said, championship season for Dodgers with dislocated shoulders. And a few grimaces are not going to keep Ohtani out of the lineup.
"It's sort of pointless for me to even consider it," Roberts said, "because he's going to be in there tomorrow."
www.thelockerroomofdowney.com
proimagesports.com
that team was so clutch 
snkrfollower
and I think I've noticed a couple others are like that.
- 1951 EFF Varsity Jacket
