Latest Shohei Ohtani injury update doesn't bode well for Dodgers Game 3 status

Los Angeles Dodgers fans should be busy celebrating a 2-0 lead in the World Series following a pair of rollicking home wins over the New York Yankees. Instead, they're trying to read some tea leaves: Star Shohei Ohtani suffered a shoulder injury while attempting to steal second base late in Game 2, and now the baseball world is left waiting to see just how much — if any — time he'll miss.

If you're inclined toward optimism, there's some to be found. While Ohtani was diagnosed with a subluxation of his left shoulder, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that the team was "encouraged" that the separation appeared to be a minor one, adding that initial tests of Ohtani's strength and range of motion came back positive. Ohtani himself, meanwhile, was at least feeling well enough to troll teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Instagram after the win.

If you're inclined toward pessimism, however, there's also plenty of that to be found as Game 3 approaches on Monday.

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Shohei Ohtani doesn't travel with Dodgers to New York ahead of Game 3

While the Dodgers were pleased with Ohtani's initial diagnosis, he's not out of the woods yet. Per ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, Ohtani did not travel with his teammates to New York after the game on Saturday night, instead staying behind in Los Angeles to undergo an MRI on his shoulder.

This by no means rules Ohtani out for Game 3, let alone the rest of the series. The Dodgers are perfectly capable of chartering another plane to New York should Ohtani's MRI come back clear, allowing him to get in either Sunday night or Monday morning before first pitch. But it's still not great for the team's best hitter to have his status up in the air less than 48 hours away from a critical game, and the fact that he needs the MRI in the first place suggests that he's still in some considerable discomfort.

The bottom line is that we won't know until we know, and anything prior to that is speculation. But given all the available evidence right now, it seems hard to believe that Ohtani won't miss at least one game; it's hard to imagine him being able to swing a bat at full speed just 48 hours after separating his shoulder. If there's a silver lining here, it's that L.A. has a 2-0 lead to work with, and that the Yankees offense may not score enough for the loss of Ohtani to matter anyway.