After watching Shohei Ohtani go down with a scary shoulder injury on a failed slide attempt at the bottom of the seventh, Los Angeles Dodgers fans in California, Japan, and the rest of the world over waited with bated breath for some news – hopefully good news – on the MVP.
Diagnosed with a shoulder injury on the Fox broadcast by Ken Rosenthal, Dave Roberts provided some further detail on the situation after the final out was secured in the 4-2 victory, telling fans in his press conference that number 17 had been officially diagnosed with something called a “left shoulder subluxation.”
“He has a left shoulder subluxation,” Roberts told reporters. “We’re gonna get some tests at some point tonight, tomorrow. And then we’ll know more in the next couple days. But the strength was great, range of motion good. Once we get the scans we’ll know more.”
Shohei Ohtani is a wildcard for the Dodgers in Week 3
Now what, you may wonder, is a “left shoulder subluxation?” Well, according to John Hopkins University, a shoulder subluxation is, “A shoulder subluxation occurs when the humerus partially slides in and out of place quickly.”
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In layman’s terms? Ohtani dislocated his shoulder on his 7th-inning slide and was taken back to the locker room for further testing. If his scans show no damage, the Dodgers might have avoided a major loss for the rest of the World Series, as Ohtani could theoretically be back before Game 7. But if there is damage? Well the MVP’s series might just be over, even if fans of the Dodgers would not like to see that at all.
On paper, the Dodgers are a team with enough firepower to weather an injury to almost anyone, with Freeman missing multiple games before his Game 1 walk-off grand slam. While losing Ohtani would be a far more crushing blow, as he is not only the team’s lead-off hitter but also their heart and soul, the Dodgers have built a roster with enough depth to keep chugging along regardless of who is on the field, and that won’t change in the next week unless the injuries start to stack up.
