Dodgers' Andrew Friedman Calls Out MLB for Shohei Ohtani Rule

Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani receives a Dodgers cap from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman at an introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 14, 2023. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Major League Baseball has bent its rulebook to allow the Dodgers to exploit Shohei Ohtani's two-way talents.

Could they maybe bend the rules a little more?

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Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman at least indulged the thought in a recent interview with Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times, saying the league "missed the mark" with the language of a rule that allows Ohtani to remain in any game as a DH after the Dodgers remove him from a start.

Ohtani can't remain in the game as a DH if the Dodgers remove him from a relief appearance, however, a quirk of the rule that has become more of a concern as the Dodgers contemplate how to use Ohtani in the postseason.

Ohtani's last two starts have been excellent. The Dodgers are only 26-27 since the All-Star break after losing in extra innings Monday to the Philadelphia Phillies. Yet Ohtani's starts against the Cincinnati Reds at home on Aug. 27, and nine days later in Baltimore, saw the right-hander allow only one run across 8.2 innings while striking out 14.

In the category of good-problems-to-have, the rest of the Dodgers' starting rotation has been excellent lately, too. Their starters are 18-9 with a league-leading 3.19 ERA since Aug. 1, when the six-man group assumed its current form.

Conversely, Dodgers relievers are 3-11 with six saves (29th in MLB) and a 4.03 ERA in the same span. The question of which members of the six-man rotation will shift to the bullpen come October is more of a focal point as the Dodgers' magic number to clinch a playoff berth dwindles.

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It's too soon to say who among the group of Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan will move to the bullpen. What is not too soon to declare is that Ohtani is in a separate category for one simple reason: the Dodgers need his bat in the lineup; they risk losing it if he enters a game as a reliever but can't finish the game on the mound.

Friedman told Harris he’d liked to see the "Ohtani rule" eventually changed to allow him to remain in the game after exiting relief appearances. But the POBO also acknowledged “that’s more of an offseason, future thing.”

“Obviously,” Friedman said, “it’s not reasonable for us to ask for that in-season.”

Overall, Ohtani is is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA in 12 starts. Since he did not pitch at all in 2024, the Dodgers have ramped up Ohtani's workload gradually, from that of an "opener" to more of a traditional "starter."

The net effect is that Ohtani has averaged only three innings per start. That's less than ideal, a factor that could weigh heavily on how the Dodgers line up their October rotation. If the season ended Monday, the Dodgers would host the New York Mets in a best-of-three series to begin the postseason.

Fortunately the postseason doesn't begin for a couple more weeks. Unfortunately, MLB's rules limit the Dodgers' options for how Ohtani will be used once the regular season ends.

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