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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani was out of the Los Angeles Angels‘ starting lineup Tuesday, one day after tweaking his right oblique on a swing during pregame batting practice.
Ohtani was still undergoing evaluations by the time Angels manager Phil Nevin spoke to the media roughly three hours before the first pitch of a game against the first-place Baltimore Orioles, and he has yet to be placed on the injured list.
It’s important to note why: Ohtani wants to keep playing.
The Angels, 10 games below .500 and 12½ games out of a playoff spot, are no longer in contention. The American League MVP race is leaning so heavily in his favor that Vegas oddsmakers stopped accepting bets weeks ago. And yet Ohtani — two months away from a highly profitable run at free agency, while nursing a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament — continues to do everything possible to keep hitting.
“I think it just says a lot about who he is,” Nevin said. “And just for the record — he really wants to play right now. This is something that he’s upset by. He wants to play, and we want him to play. Of course we want him to play. But it’s just a credit to who he is. You start something, you’re going to finish it. Like I said, he wants to be out there. I know he does.
“But right now we’re still evaluating to see where we’re at. Those things [oblique injuries] can be finicky at times, so we got to make sure on it. That’s why we’re diving in on some tests.”
Ohtani has not spoken publicly since Aug. 9, which wound up being his penultimate pitching start of 2023, and is not expected to address the media at least until season’s end. His agent, Nez Balelo of CAA, spoke moments before Ohtani was a late scratch from Monday’s lineup and said Ohtani still plans on being a two-way player in the future and that they’re still deciding a next course of action to treat his UCL tear.
Ohtani, 29, hasn’t homered since Aug. 23, the day he learned of a new tear in his pitching elbow, and yet he’s still tied with Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson for the major league lead in home runs with 44. His 1.066 OPS leads the sport, as does his 9.0 FanGraphs wins above replacement (his closest competitor in the AL, Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, entered play Tuesday with 5.6 fWAR).
The Triple Crown and the AL home run record — the latter of which was set by Aaron Judge last year — are no longer within reach, nor is the Angels’ first postseason appearance since 2014.
And yet Tuesday marked just Ohtani’s second time out of the Angels’ starting lineup since May 2.
“He feels a lot better today,” Nevin said. “He mentioned wanting to play, but I’m not going to let him. We’ll see how it goes.”