Blake Snell's concerning scratch renders Ohtani pitching debate moot

The Los Angeles Dodgers scratched Blake Snell from his scheduled start against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. The reason remained a mystery, with The Athletic's Katie Woo and the California Post's Jack Harris both indicating it does not appear related to the shoulder issue that had him on the IL earlier this season.

UPDATE: The Dodgers placed Snell on the injured list with "left elbow loose bodies" and recalled LHP Charlie Barnes.

On the one hand, it would have been extremely frustrating if Snell suffered a setback with that shoulder given the way he just came back. The team decided to skip his final rehab start in favor of starting him on Saturday against the Braves. He made it only three innings with four earned runs allowed in his first appearance of the season.

Snell made just 11 starts last year, his first season with the Dodgers. He missed four months of action while dealing with shoulder inflammation — the same issue that cost him the first month of this season. So this scratch being unrelated at least means that particular nightmare isn't recurring.

On the other hand, a new injury isn't exactly music to the ears either. Snell is supposed to be a critical piece in the Dodgers' rotation. And he is when he's healthy. He had a 2.35 ERA during the regular season and made six postseason appearances during the World Series run with a 3.18 ERA.

Blake Snell injury update: Dodgers pitcher back in IL with "left elbow loose bodies"

The best ability is availability though, and Snell's track record on that front is increasingly unreliable. Outside of a relatively healthy Cy Young campaign in 2023 with the Padres, Snell has been a walking injury machine for years.

The Dodgers will roll with their bullpen for Friday's game. Will Klein will get the start in Snell's place. From there, well the plan isn't clear.

What does any of this have to do with Shohei Ohtani? Well, it's yet another sign of why the Dodgers absolutely do not have the luxury of moving the perennial MVP candidate to hitting only.

Shohei Ohtani has to keep pitching because the Dodgers' pitchers keep getting injured

Shohei Ohtani's two-way play has become a recent topic of debate in MLB. The reigning NL MVP is having one of the poorest hitting seasons of his career so far, slashing .240/.370/.427. His OPS+ is 128, which is still better than the league average of 100 but a far cry from the 180+ he posted in each of the last three seasons.

On Thursday he ended a "slump" of 11 games without a home run. He's only hit two of those in his last 27 games.

The culprit, according to many, is the attention he pays to pitching.

There is a universe where the Dodgers don't need Ohtani to pitch. I say that while needing to acknowledge that Ohtani is their best pitcher this season, and it's not close. He's allowed a total of four earned runs in seven starts. His ERA is 0.82, best in the major leagues. The level of luxury that would be is outrageous.

That's the world where Snell's body holds up, Tyler Glasnow isn't on the 15-day IL and Roki Sasaki is capable of delivering a quality start.

That's not the universe we're currently living in, though.

The Dodgers are getting good work from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan but they don't have the arms to pull Ohtani from their rotation.

Would Ohtani be a better hitter without making a start every week? Maybe. He was pretty damn good in the second half of the 2025 season while taking regular trips to the mound. His OPS+ was 187 and his ERA was 3.32.

The Dodgers aren't in a position to find out if transitioning Ohtani to hitting only would help heat his bat up. They need his arm too much.

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